


An' Harm Ye None

by LinneaKou



Series: The Witching Hour [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Abusive Parents, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Bigotry & Prejudice, Brother-Sister Relationships, Daemons, Ensemble Cast, Familiars, Horror, Illnesses, Lovecraftian, Multi, Mystery, Religious Fanaticism, Serial Killers, Transgender, Transphobia, Twins, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-13
Updated: 2015-11-13
Packaged: 2018-04-26 05:05:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 92,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4991320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinneaKou/pseuds/LinneaKou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“...do as ye will.”</i>
</p><p>Toni Stark, small-town witch, has served as the head of the Cravenswood town coven for a decade all the while assisting the police in occult-related crime. Between her and Detective Steve Rogers, nothing that happens in Cravenwood is too big to handle - not even the reappearance of her estranged brother... that is, until someone starts ritually murdering townspeople.</p><p>As the death toll climbs and a conservative religious group begins to cast blame upon the town witches, something monstrous begins to stir up Craven’s Woods. Faced with an unknown Craft and drawing the suspicions of the citizens she swore to protect, Toni must put an end to the killings before whatever is haunting the woods comes out into the light.</p><p>Fear lives in a small town.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am incredibly proud to present "AN' HARM YE NONE", my entry for the 2015 Cap-Ironman Big Bang. Before we start, caution: this is legitimately a novel-sized fic.
> 
> Huge thanks to my lovely betas Woad, Teyke, and Stacie. I have no words for how helpful your input was. This monster of a fic wouldn't be half as good or coherent without your help.
> 
> My artist is the incredibly talented and ever patient Nim-lock. [GO LOOK AT THEIR GORGEOUS ART, I'M STILL CRYING ABOUT IT.](http://nim-lock.deviantart.com/art/Cap-IronMan-Big-Bang-2015-571885049)
> 
> [The Witching Hour - a witchy fanmix](http://8tracks.com/linneakou/the-witching-hour)
> 
> A few notes about the setting: this takes place in Central/Eastern Illinois, in a fictional small town. _The date is October of 1998._ The world is much as we knew it then, with one addition - Witches live among nonmagical folk, called Cowans, and are part of everyday life for the most part. There are still prejudices against them, of course, but everyone likes to think they live in an enlightened age.
> 
> Witches can be of any religion, but a common one is a fictional faith called Veritan Stregheria, based off of the New Age religion of our world. One is born a Witch, and intermarrying with Cowans has become more commonplace. Bloodlines are something that the elders tend to hold sacred, but that doesn't come up much.
> 
> Included in the worldbuilding of this fic is a largely fake language (but if you speak Spanish or Italian, you can figure it out for the most part) so any translations will be included in the proper chapters.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

[ ](http://nim-lock.tumblr.com/post/133113041819/capimbigbang2015)

 

Antoinette Sophia Stark, deep in concentration, didn’t hear the summons from outside the Circle until Jarvis placed a silver paw on her knee.

“Mistress,” he murmured, and only that.

Toni didn’t respond physically, barely a twitch in her posture, but mentally acknowledged him and otherwise stayed focused on the task at hand.

Jarvis jumped back onto the worktable and peered at the earring she was hard at work on. She placed the grain-sized gem - a garnet - into the crevice waiting for it. The magick seemed to have been waiting for the moment, and she whispered a few words of power, a command in an ancient tongue.

The metal embraced the gem, held it fast.

The spell snapped into shape, and the air seemed to flare for a moment, then everything died down to normal.

Toni finally looked up and put the earring down. “What is it, Jarvis?”

“Strega Potts sent her Astral down. You have a visitor in the foyer.” The silver cat stretched in a wave, his tail rippling. “It is Detective Carter from CPD.”

Toni felt a frisson of warning run up her spine. “A murder.”

Jarvis didn’t bother to contradict her.

Toni slowly climbed off of the bench and slipped her feet into beat-up moccasins. She grabbed her shawl off of the hook next to the table and waved a hand, extinguishing all the candles in the Circle. They were all burnt down to their bases, having been used all the previous night.

She spoke a word in Veritan, the Witch language. “ _Abruttè_.”

The Circle broke open and Toni stepped out, Jarvis at her ankles.

“I really hope I’m wrong,” Toni said.

“Indeed, Mistress.”

Peggy was studying the scrolls on the foyer walls when Toni and Jarvis emerged from the workroom. She was a pretty English-born woman, of average height, on the heavier side of average-weight, with curly brown hair and dark eyes. Toni had never seen her without a slash of red lipstick adorning her heart-shaped face. She seemed perturbed.

Pepper sidled up next to Toni and leaned in. “She didn’t tell me anything, but it’s bad. Her energy is off.”

“Off how?”

Pepper rolled her eyes. “Don’t play dumb, Toni.”

“Hm.” Toni patted her assistant and friend’s shoulder before clearing her throat. “Good morrow?”

Peggy raised her eyebrows, amused. “‘Good morrow?’ Who actually says that?”

“Small-town Witches who want to sound mysterious and ancient,” Toni replied, wrapping her shawl more tightly around her shoulders. Working the Craft tended to leave her feeling cold for a while after.

Peggy snorted. “Hello, Jarvis.” She bent down to pet Toni’s Familiar on the head. Jarvis closed his feline eyes in pleasure.

“So this isn’t a social call, as much as I wish it were,” Peggy said as she straightened, smoothing down her blazer. “Steve and I need your expertise, and the sooner we can move out, the better.”

Toni nodded. “A homicide.”

Peggy nodded sadly. “Yes.”

“Let’s go, then.” Toni waved Pepper over. “Hold down the fort for me?”

“Sure. Keep yourself safe,” Pepper touched her own forehead in respect towards her coven’s head, and Toni returned the gesture to her coven-sister out of custom and habit.

Jarvis rubbed up against Toni’s ankles, silently lending her strength; he couldn’t typically come along to the crime scene, but would be awaiting her return.

Peggy waited as Pepper disappeared into the conservatory and while Toni switched her shawl out for a more utilitarian jacket and her slippers for her customary boots. “So. Steve, huh?”

Peggy laughed. “Don’t be so obvious, Strega Stark.”

Just as they were pulling out of the manor’s circular driveway, another car pulled in. This one was a luxury model Lexus, and had rental tags. A blond man was driving it.

“Hold up a sec,” Toni said, and got out of Peggy’s car.

Pepper, having been alerted to the newcomer’s arrival, appeared at the top of the steps. Her Familiar Hera, in her sparrow form, perched on her shoulder.

The Lexus’s motor turned off, and the blond man got out of the cab.

Toni’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh.  _Greg_.”

It had been well over ten years since Toni last laid eyes on her twin brother. She hadn’t seen him in person since before she’d taken her leave of New York City.

Despite being twins, Toni and Greg were a study in polar opposites. Toni was petite, with long, curly black hair and fringe, her olive skin paled due to countless hours spent in her underground workshop, and golden lamplike eyes. She tended towards dressing in black and burgundy, playing her status as a Witch to the fullest with flowing skirts, Victorian-style boots, and plenty of handmade jewelry.

Gregory, on the other hand, had pale blond hair and piercing blue eyes. Their shared Mediterranean heritage was displayed on him in richly tanned skin, and he presented himself as the height of class, in a snow-white linen suit and with his facial hair trimmed in an immaculate goatee. He was tall, and of a more muscular build, and moved like a being sure of his place in the world. He walked like a man used to hearing his footfalls, steady and sure.

Toni moved to embrace him, but he turned, held out a hand for a handshake.

Toni stopped and stared at the extended hand. After a hesitation, she took it. “Good… good to see you again,” she finally said.

Greg smiled, and it was a plastic, artificial expression. “Antoinette. It’s been a while.”

Toni attempted to regain her composure, but couldn’t manage to return the smile. “Yeah. Yes, it has.” She blinked, shook her head to clear it. “What brings you out here to Cravenswood?”

“The city has become too… noisy. Crowded.” Greg shrugged. “I have been long overdue for a vacation, and had yet to visit the hometown of our late mother.”

“Do… do you need a place to stay?” Toni glanced up the steps at Pepper, whose eyes widened.

Greg tilted his head, an unreadable look in his eyes. “I have a room at the bed-and-breakfast.”

“Ben and May Parker’s?”

“I believe that was the couple’s name.” Greg glanced up at the manor. “So this is our mother’s home.”

“Yeah.” Toni felt something anxious stir in the pit of her belly, and Peggy coughed in the car behind her. “Look, Greg, I’m kind of on my way out--”

“No, I understand. I apologize for springing this sudden visit on you.” Greg met her gaze again. “I should have called ahead.” He shrugged. “I was hoping to catch up with you, but I understand if you’ve been called away.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of important.” Toni twisted a curl of hair around her finger and bit her lip. “Can we meet up later on, maybe in the afternoon? I’ll let you know when things are quiet again.”

“Feel free to leave a message with the Parkers,” Greg said. He nodded to Pepper, who narrowed her eyes at him, and then climbed back into his rental. “I look forward to reconnecting with you, Antoinette.”

“Greg,” Toni smiled weakly. “We’re family. Least you can do is call me Toni.”

“Indeed.” Greg turned the keys in the ignition, and shut the car door.

Toni sighed and got back into Peggy’s car, and they pulled out and away.

When they pulled up to the abandoned lot behind Old Stan's hardware store, Toni immediately picked out Detective Steve Rogers’ blond head, half a foot above everyone else. There were uniformed cops swarming the lot, and yellow police tape boxed the scene in.

They let Peggy and Toni in, and Toni made a beeline for the center of the activity. Peggy called out behind her, but Toni didn’t heed her. She didn’t even make it to Steve before she caught sight of the corpse. What she saw made her stop dead in her tracks.

The girl had been stripped naked and laid on her back, her limbs spread to match the pentagram etched in the dirt. That was routine, for a Cowan - a non-Witch - attempting to make a crime look occult in nature. Nothing incredibly creative; Toni wished it had ended there.

The girl's hands had been literally staked to the ground with actual metal, right through the palm of each hand. Her feet were wrapped with chicken wire that had also been secured by stakes. Her head was positioned so that she would be looking straight upward... if her eyes hadn't been removed completely. And worst of all, her abdomen had been cut open and her innards pulled out. There were flies everywhere, the metallic tang of blood and the stink of death and the buzzing of the carrion insects overwhelming--

Toni stumbled to the side and found herself revisiting breakfast.

There were surprised yelps and a few weak chuckles from the forensic team as she heaved again, coughing up bile.

"It's okay," she heard Steve murmur. "Get it all out." He rubbed her shoulder soothingly.

"Don't feel bad," Peggy added. "Krzeminski didn't even make it past the yellow tape."

Toni took the tissue Steve offered her and wiped her mouth, muttering a curse in Veritan.

Steve chuckled. "I have no idea what you just said but I assume you were swearing?"

"Lay off the nagging, Winghead," Toni snapped, but she still buried her head in his shoulder once she'd stood up and turned around. " _Carillon d’inferno,_  I can't believe..."

"I know," Steve answered. "None of us can."

It had been nearly seven years since a homicide happened in Cravenswood, and that had been committed by a member of a traveling carnival. It had been a straightforward rape and strangling, but the lack of magick had not made it any less horrendous. The violent death had resulted in a very tragic ghost. Toni had been called in to help the ghost as the CPD hunted down the culprit, and thus hadn’t really interacted with the poor woman’s corpse. It seemed that day would be a day of many firsts.

There was always the possibility that a resident could commit such a heinous act, but nobody liked to think of that. It made folks feel better to blame the out-of-town visitors and big city dwellers. Normally Toni - and, to some degree, the various members of the CPD - would disagree, but Toni and her coven usually got some warning before major crimes were committed. They had known to be prepared for the tragedy with the carnival, even if they hadn’t known exactly what was about to occur. Just by keying into the natural balance and tone of the town's energy, they were usually prepared for what could happen.

Toni had received absolutely no warning for this, and neither Pepper nor any Familiars present had mentioned anything either. She was also fairly certain her coven would have sought her out had they gotten a whiff of foul play, but her interactions of the past week with the various Witches of the town had been very relaxed and benign.

This had literally come out of _nowhere_.

Steve patted her back and she drew away from him. Peggy offered her a stick of wintergreen gum, which she gratefully accepted. "Okay," she said after chewing for a minute. "Fill me in."

The wind rustled the trees in the distance, and a chill crawled down her spine. She suddenly felt like she was being scrutinized, as if some great eyes had cast their gaze upon her and begun to contemplate whatever she did.

She forced her focus back onto the here and now, on the detectives.

"Old Stan called it in after he opened the store up. Said he saw a tarp thrown out in the lot and went to see if it was debris from last night's storm." Peggy nodded at the blue tarp being folded up into an evidence bag. "He didn't see anything last night while closing up. As far as we can tell, he was not involved. His wife vouched for him being at home last night until he left to open up shop."

"We're going to wait for dental records to confirm it, but we are fairly certain that we found Tania McGee." Steve bowed his head, his expression unreadable.

Toni swallowed and felt the prickling of what had to be tears at the back of her eyes, and that was impossible. Witches couldn't cry. "She's only seventeen."

Steve sighed. "We want to be sure before we go to her mother."

" _Mater diella Deava…_ "

"Toni? Focus." Peggy pulled her from her dark thoughts. The dark-haired detective was staring intently at her, but she softened her tone when she spoke again. "The sooner we identify who or what did this, the sooner we can put them away."

"Any idea which school of magic pulled this?" Steve added.

Toni steeled herself and looked over the corpse again. "I need more data. Is Bruce here yet?"

Steve pointed the CPD medical examiner out, and Toni mentally girdled her loins and headed for the body.

Dr. Banner was just removing the liver probe. He nodded distractedly to Toni and checked the temperature reading. "Blood splatter and pooling indicates that this is the spot where she died… Judging by this reading, I would put time of death at around one or two in the morning."

"The so-called 'witching hour'," Toni commented, trying not to breathe in the corpse's scent. Her stomach churned in warning, and she tried to focus on the mint of the gum.

Bruce shrugged and laid the thermometer aside. "That tells us something, I guess."

Toni nodded. Whoever had done this was either a Cowan or a very savvy Witch trying to throw others off his or her scent. Considering that every local Witch belonged to the same coven and no one had noticed any new magick users passing through, Toni doubted the latter. And they would have noticed. Much like feral animals could tell when intruders had passed through their territory, the coven would have immediately picked up a foreign Witch. They’d dealt with countless interlopers - Whitney Frost and the Hammer girls had been the latest, just over a year ago. And besides, the patented Small Town Rumor Mill would have started churning the minute someone from outside Cravenswood showed up in their midst; that was how Toni had become aware of the Maggia’s arrival back in ‘95. Besides Greg, who had shown up at the manor before Toni had heard anything of his arrival, there hadn't been anyone else of note.

Toni sighed. "What else can you tell me?"

Bruce breathed deeply, then coughed. Toni couldn't blame him. "She was alive when she was... bound. Her hands and ankles bled."

Toni closed her eyes, and there it was: the place-memory, waiting to dump the residual energy of the site into her sixth sense. "I think she was drugged, and somewhat awake." Strangely, the place-memory was faint. Try as she might, Toni couldn’t glean anything else from the ambient energy of the crime scene. Such violent actions usually generated magical signs and residual leavings, like faint ghostlike forms and empathetic imprints.

Toni knew it in her bones: something had wiped it all away. All that was left was the victim and her last conscious moments, stored in her skin and blood.

"Lord help us all," Bruce said in response. "I'll order a tox screen." He leaned forward and pulled the dead girl's mouth open, then recoiled. "Jesus--"

Toni looked and then scrambled back. The girl's tongue had also been cut out.

Toni cursed and got to her feet, tracing the Goddess circle on her chest. "None of this ritual is familiar to me, and I have studied a lot of these." She spat the now-useless gum into her spent tissue and wiped her mouth again. "I'm going to call a coven meeting, see if anyone knows anything."

"I hope you find something," Bruce said, scrubbing at his curly hair, his face in a pinched expression. "Because if you can't, we are going to be in for trouble."

Toni surveyed the silent woods beyond the edge of the lot, which had suddenly become much more menacing. She shuddered with a sudden thought of _or maybe we already are_.

Peggy took Toni to the diner after they left the crime scene, citing that "Pepper would have my hide if I didn't make sure you ate something."

Toni suspected that she only wanted to see her girlfriend, who was working behind the counter as they took two stools for themselves.

Angie took one look at her and handed Toni her usual coffee. "You look like you've seen a ghost. Or," she made a face that got Peggy to snort, "something that would actually scare you as much as a ghost would scare us Muggles."

"Ugh," Toni wrinkled her nose. "Too early in the morning for pop culture references." Peggy had been sent a copy of a popular English children’s book, and it had been about fictional wizards. Toni had disliked it immediately, purely because the author had opted to make absolutely everything up. Angie had apparently enjoyed it… or she enjoyed driving Toni nuts by quoting it.

Angie laughed. "What'll it be, Glinda?"

Toni glared at her over the rim of the mug as Peggy failed to keep the giggles contained. "Just coffee," she finally said.

"Absolutely not!" Peggy admonished her. "At least eat some toast, something bland to settle your stomach."

Toni closed her eyes. Tania's mutilated face swam on the inside of her eyelids. "Not sure I can handle that right now."

"I can get some saltines?" Angie offered.

"Fine."

"Coming right up." Angie disappeared into the kitchen, and Peggy huffed out a small sigh.

"I am so sorry," the detective finally said. "I didn’t think it would be as bad as it was, Steve got there before me and called me to grab you on my way over. I still should have warned you on the way over there, about the gore. "

"As much as I would have appreciated that, I'm still not sure I would have handled it any better."

Peggy and Toni sipped at their coffee, and when Angie brought the saltines, Toni obligingly nibbled on those.

"So do you think the others might know anything about this?" Peggy asked.

Toni considered it. "See, now that I think of it, the rite is _familiar_. Like, I've seen it before but I can't for the life of me remember it."

"Maybe someone will refresh your memory?" Peggy ventured hopefully.

"We can only pray," Toni said quietly.

"Whatever you two got into, it sounds awful." Angie wrinkled her nose. "I won't ask."

Toni waggled her eyebrows gratefully at Angie as Peggy put out money for their bill. "Thanks for the crackers, Martinelli."

"Don't sweat it. Hey, feel better, okay?" Angie nodded to her before hurrying away to deal with a regular seated down the bar.

Peggy blew a kiss after her (which Angie mimed catching) and then ushered Toni back to her car.

"Must be nice, to have a literal ray of sunlight for a roommate," Toni commented.

Peggy rolled her eyes at her. "I already told you to quit being so obvious, Toni."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Sure, sure you don't."

Peggy dropped Toni back at the manor and left after teasing her about her taste in music - Toni had sung along to Depeche Mode on the radio, and made an impassioned argument about the signature riff of "Enjoy the Silence". It was either that or let the memory of what they'd just seen stew in the uncomfortable quiet.

Toni waved as Peggy pulled out of the drive and then shook out her skirt, trying to shake the gloom still clinging to her. Jarvis appeared at her feet, slinking out from under the porch.

"Streghe Rhodes has returned from San Francisco," he informed her, and Toni scooped him up in her arms. He went willingly, and she took comfort in his weight and warmth.

Toni buried her nose in Jarvis's fur. "I need you to put the call out to the rest of the coven."

"Of course, Mistress." Jarvis purred in an attempt to calm her, and Toni felt the soothing emotions he was projecting. They did little to salve the rawness of what she had just witnessed, but she appreciated the gesture all the same.

"We meet tonight, at ten." Toni was reasonably sure any Cowan obligations would be finished by then. "Here, at the manor."

"Understood." Jarvis rubbed his face against hers and then jumped down from her arms. He disappeared into the brush surrounding the property, and Toni gathered her wits before ascending the stairs to the porch.

Rhodey opened the door and stepped outside before she reached the top of the steps, and his Familiar Ares - in his customary form of a Doberman - was hot on his heels. "Pepper!" he called over his shoulder. "She's back."

"Rhodey--" Toni threw her arms around his waist and hugged him close. " _Miertè_ , I'm glad you're back."

Rhodey squeezed her back. "I heard there was a murder." Behind him, Pepper slipped out onto the porch to join them.

"Old Stan found Tania McGee's body in the empty lot behind his store." Toni swallowed down her nausea. "Peggy and Steve brought me in to see if I could identify the Craft. She was put in a pentagram and mutilated to all hell."

" _Dìus mai,_ " Rhodey murmured, his eyes wide, as Pepper gasped in horror.

"They don't have any witnesses or suspects, do they?" Pepper said from behind clasped hands.

Toni shook her head. "It wasn't any kind of Craft I know of, dark or light. I think it was Cowan."

"That means we missed something big," Rhodey said darkly. "Damn it, I shouldn't have left."

"We didn't leave," Pepper pointed out. "We were here and it still happened."

Ares whined loudly, echoing the displeasure clearly displayed on Rhodey's face.

"Hush, you," Pepper scolded the Familiar, who dropped his ears instantly and hung his head. "You're both being irrational," she went on, regaining her composure. "Your presence would not have stopped the killer." Hera puffed up her chest feathers in agreement.

"Pepper's right," said Toni. "We can beat ourselves up over Tania's death, or we can find her murderer and bring them to justice." She looked up at the overcast sky, the steel-colored clouds keeping all but the most strained sunlight from filtering through. "I'm calling the coven in tonight, to discuss this and see what everyone knows."

"Could it have been Loki?" Ares wondered.

Hera chittered. "We haven't sensed Hel anywhere near us."

"No, Loki is still being held by the Shadow Council." Toni shuddered. Even _she_  didn't know - or want to know - what that exactly meant. She had had her share of brushes with the assembled council that governed over the world's community of Witches and magick users, and once was one too many. You crossed the council once, and then you disappeared forever.

"So let's hope that someone recognizes the ritual and that it will point us toward the killer," Pepper said, squaring her shoulders. "In the meantime, I have a batch of inks that need to be finished."

Rhodey tugged Toni into the manor after Pepper and glanced over his shoulder. "So what's this about Greg showing up here?"

"Just that." Toni shrugged. "He showed up right as Peggy and I were leaving and said he was in town on vacation."

Rhodey and Greg had never gotten along as youths, so Toni wasn't surprised when he narrowed his eyes. Ares growled at his knee, and Toni rolled her eyes and scratched the Familiar between his ears. That made him stop.

"Seriously," Rhodey insisted. "Why would your brother - who _hates_  anything having to do with the Craft - vacation in Cravenswood, of all places?"

"Does it matter?" Toni retorted. "At least we can rule him out as a suspect. He only arrived this morning."

Rhodey sighed, but conceded. "I still don't want to be around him any longer than necessary," he said, punctuating his statement with a poke at Toni's shoulder.

“ _Carillon d’inferno,_ ” Toni rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Very well. _Men!_ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you all catch the Stan Lee cameo?
> 
>  
> 
> _Veritan-to-English guide:_
> 
> "Strega/Streghe" = formal title for an Ordained Witch
> 
> " _Abruttè_ " = "open" [command]
> 
> " _Carillon d'inferno_ " = "Hell's Bells"
> 
> " _Mater diella Deava_ " = "Mother of the Goddess"
> 
> " _Miertè_ " = "shit"
> 
> " _Dìus mai_ " = "My God"


	2. Chapter 2

Around eight o’clock that night, Steve showed up on the manor’s doorstep.

Pepper let him in, and Toni came out of the kitchen to greet him. Seeing Steve was always a delight - in the decade that she’d known him, he gone from a cute skinny guy to an impressively muscular athlete with an addiction to triathlons and marathons. He had the most classically handsome face she’d ever seen, clean-shaven with a strong, square chin, solid, high cheekbones, a straight nose, just-full-enough lips, and clear blue - _azure_  - eyes that were sometimes the same color as the bluest sky. He was rather pale, befitting of his Irish ancestry, and had the subtlest, most nuanced expressions Toni had ever seen. Could anyone blame her for having a tiny crush on the man?

“Detective,” she said, grinning and wagging her glass bottle of Coke. “Nightcap?”

Steve’s eyebrows went up. “You’re feeling better?”

“Somewhat.”

Pepper snorted. “This will be the first she’s eaten since she got back from the crime scene.”

“What have you been doing all day?”

“Working, sir,” Jarvis offered from the bannister, his tail swishing primly.

Pepper shoved a fist into her mouth to stifle her giggles and disappeared into the conservatory, Hera fluttering behind her, as Toni made a noise of outrage.

“Traitor!” Toni yelled, pointing at her Familiar. “You’re supposed to be loyal to me!”

“Of course, Mistress,” Jarvis said mildly.

Steve nodded to the cat. “He’s being very loyal, since we can’t count on you to keep yourself healthy.”

“Thank you, Detective,” Jarvis jumped down from his perch and moved to wind around Toni’s ankles.

“You are a menace,” Toni informed him, and scooped him up. He climbed onto her shoulder and purred loudly in her ear.

“What’re you eating?” Steve asked, still standing on the rug by the door.

“Nothing, at the moment. C’mon, Steve, you can come in.”

Steve smiled, a crooked aw-shucks boy-next-door smile, and Toni felt her heartbeat pick up.

“I could whip up something?” Toni suggested, suddenly wanting to keep that smile in place.

“Enough for two?” Right on cue, Steve’s stomach rumbled. He shrugged sheepishly. “I’ve also been busy for a while.”

“Too busy to get yourself dinner?” They headed into the kitchen, and Jarvis jumped from Toni’s shoulder to the kitchen table.

“What’re you thinking?” Steve took a seat at the island counter - he had tried to help Toni cook in her own kitchen once, and that had resulted in a minor explosion and Steve’s hair turning blue for a week.

Toni waggled her fingers at him in a Witchy way. “What’re you hungry for?”

“Justice,” Steve answered with a straight face, and Toni actually doubled over in laughter.

“You’re too much,” she told him, grabbing a pan from under the counter. “How about a chicken stir-fry?”

Jarvis meowed his approval, and Steve’s deadpan cracked. “Sounds good to me too,” Steve said, peering over his shoulder at the Familiar. “That’s the real reason I came over tonight, to be honest: your cooking. But… did Toni fill you in, Jarvis?”

“Of course.” Jarvis stretched. “I am terribly sorry to report that I am not familiar with the ritual Mistress described.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Steve answered, smiling reassuringly at Toni’s Familiar. He sobered again, his expression grim. “Tania McGee’s mother reported her missing last night. Dental records confirmed it’s her.”

_Ye gods._

“On second thought,” Toni said, putting down the pan, “I don’t feel hungry.”

“You still need to eat something,” Steve insisted, frowning. His frowny face was just as endearing as his boyish smile. His face was a work of art.

Toni mentally shook herself as the image of Tania’s face sparked in the back of her mind. “Tania… she was just a child! She was about to graduate, go to college to become a teacher. She worked the late shift at the hardware store to help her mother. And now she’s _dead_.” Her voice wobbled dangerously, but she couldn’t cry, no matter how badly she wished.

Steve was on his feet in a moment, and he quickly swept her into a comforting hug. She buried her face in his shoulder, echoing that morning. “I… I can’t… it’s _horrible_  and I don’t even know _why_...”

They stood there for a moment, just breathing, Steve rubbing small circles on her back, before Toni stepped away, rubbing at her eyes. “I’m sorry, I feel so helpless about this.”

“Fine. Let’s talk about something else.” Steve dug in his jacket pocket and eventually extracted - Toni’s eyes widened and she leaned forward to stare - a cellular phone.

“Oh _Dìus mai_ , that is so _ugly_ ,” she said, her voice wavering but stronger than before.

Steve laughed again and handed it over. “Chief Dooley finally got a set for the detectives. We’re kind of test driving these so the county can decide whether to include them in the budget.”

“I’ve seen nicer ones from Japan,” Toni muttered. She'd even helped design one.

“Of course you would have, but Japanese phones are out of the county’s budget.” Steve waited as she turned it over in her hands. “We can talk about it over dinner, how’s that?”

 _Dìus mai, what a guy._  “I’d like that,” Toni answered quietly, putting the mobile down. She smiled shyly, unable to meet Steve’s eyes. “Thanks.”

She ducked into the pantry and pulled out a few packages of instant rice, ripped the foil off the tops, and popped them into the barely-used microwave. Steve took his seat at the counter again as she picked up the pan and oil.

"You are the one of the only Witches I know that uses technology as casually as you do," Steve commented, chin cupped in the palm of one hand.

"I really don't understand why everyone has so much trouble with this stuff. It's all electric currents, same as lightning."

Steve nodded. "Okay, you and Thor,” he amended.

“And Jane.”

Donald Blake - better known as Thor to his friends - and his wife Jane were both members of the town coven, and both of them were medical doctors who also happened to have serious affinities for weather magick. Jane also had a talent for astrology and other star-related disciplines. The two of them were a sort of otherworldly that defied their professions, to Toni's eternal amusement. They would be attending the impromptu gathering, and had already sent along their affirmations.

Toni pushed the coven meeting to the back of her mind and retrieved the finished minute rice from the microwave. She dumped it into the pan, adding mixed vegetables, leftover chicken, and a few splashes of cooking oil before igniting the stove with a little spark from her fingertip and setting it to low heat.

She turned back to Steve and saw him eying the pan. "No soy sauce," she reassured him. "No worries. I used sunflower oil." She wasn't about to cause a serious allergic reaction; that would have been inhospitably rude.

He smiled again, and the corners of his eyes crinkled. Behind him, Jarvis looked very amused. If cats could pull off the quirked eyebrow expression, Jarvis would be doing that.

Toni wondered, not for the first time, if the Universe was indeed sentient and had a warped sense of humor.

"So," she said instead, using a wooden spoon to stir the rice. "Guess who showed up in town today?"

"May Parker told me. What's your brother doing in Cravenswood?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Toni tossed the food in the pan and set it back on the stove. "He said he needed to take a vacation."

"You believe him?" Steve raised an eyebrow, while Jarvis made a rude cat noise and jumped off the table.

Toni shrugged, determinedly studying the stir fry. "I've no reason not to."

“I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting your brother,” Steve said blandly. Toni looked back at him, and he was studying her with what she called his “Detective Look”.

“We didn’t part on the best of terms,” she admitted. She’d never really talked to Steve about her life before Cravenswood, but Steve would probably appreciate being prepared for the inevitable encounter with Greg.

“That’s one way to put it,” Jarvis muttered.

“He took over our father’s company. Pretty sure you’re carrying one of his products.” Toni nodded at Steve, and he pulled out his sidearm and studied the engraved logo on the handle.

“Weapons manufacturing?”

“Mostly firearms. My mother prevailed upon my father to scale down on the larger stuff.” Toni trailed off and smiled at the memory of her mother. “Greg took after Howard, I took after Mama. Greg was always kind of sour about that, I think he envied me. Don’t see why; I didn’t have the best control as a kid. Once we were both sent to different boarding schools, though, I didn’t really get to see him as much.”

“But?”

“You’re such a detective! But,” Toni stirred the pan and sighed. “Once he took over the company - after our parents died - and I was getting established in New York… he approached me. Asked me to develop some kind of mass-produced spellcraft, to put into everything Stark Industries made. I couldn’t do it.”

The memories of her final year at the Academy, and the horrors she’d done--

“Greg didn’t understand. He thought I was doing it to spite him.” Toni turned off the heat and took the pan off the stove. “We argued, I said some awful things, bad stuff happened, and I left New York.”

“And then you came here,” Steve added. “And we met.”

“The best day of my life,” Toni said in a teasing voice.

She could recall the day with perfect clarity: one sunny morning, Happy had reported an occult crime being investigated out on a local farmstead. Toni had immediately jumped at the chance to make an impression on her new neighbors. When she arrived, she’d stepped out of her vintage Model-T - the only car she’d ever owned that never broke down due to all of the magick flying around her - and Jarvis had leapt onto her shoulder, eyeing the swarm of police with mistrust. They had only been in town for about a month, and the people were still uneasy around the new resident Witch. After all that had happened out on the east coast, Jarvis was more inclined to be suspicious than usual.

Toni had paid no heed to the Cowan police milling about, her eyes drawn straight to the gruesome animal sacrifice. She’d made for it, and a uniformed officer then had stepped into her path.

“Sorry, miss, but this is a crime scene,” the officer had said, looking at her with the bluest eyes ringed by the most exquisite golden lashes…

Toni later on could not explain what came over her then, but she had replied, “Outta the way, I’m a professional.”

The officer had raised his eyebrows. “Professional what?”

“Bitch,” Toni answered instantly. A beat later: “Witch. I meant Witch.”

Jarvis snorted at her shoulder. “Of course you did, Mistress.”

The officer, whose badge read “ROGERS”, had stared in shock at Jarvis. “Your cat talks,” he’d said faintly.

“Of course he does,” Toni replied airily. “I’m the real deal. You have a magickal crime scene. Let me at it.”

Rogers had given her an incredulous look. “Miss, I’m not sure you know how things work around here, but…” he coughed. “We need hard evidence to get this case properly tied up, you see--”

“That is an exceedingly well-crafted hex, officer,” Toni argued. “The target will already be affected, and these kinds of spells take their tolls quickly.”

“Steve!” a curly-haired officer - Peggy - had called. “You got anything?”

Rogers had glanced over his - then much thinner - shoulder and bitten his exquisitely pouty lip. (Toni had to mentally berate herself - this was no time to be checking out the pretty local LEOs.) He’d looked back at her, mentally weighed his options, then jerked his chin at the sigil and sacrifice. “I’ll vouch for you, but if you try any funny business, I will personally kick your ass, magick or no. Got it?”

Toni had smiled beatifically and batted her own lashes. “Understood, mister officer.”

Steve had taken a lot of heat for letting a civilian onto an active crime scene, but thanks to their combined efforts - along with the timely arrival of the Blakes, Jan, and Hank - they had managed to disable the hex and track down the caster. Loki had gotten off light that time, and had tried to cause mayhem again some time later, after things had settled. That time, Steve had not hesitated to call upon Toni for her consultation and unique services. Over the course of a decade, they’d made a great team; they had solved countless cases of varying severity and helped countless people, both witch and Cowan. In between making her metalwork and creating magick jewelry, Toni had become very well-versed in relations with the local police and crime investigations… and very, very fond of Steve Rogers.

She set Steve’s plate in front of him on the counter, grabbed a plate of her own, and placed a bowl of chicken to the side for Jarvis.

“Phone?” Toni prompted, and Steve obligingly slid it over.

“Ugh,” she said, turning it over in her hand. “Just… ugh.”

Steve laughed around a forkful of stir-fry.

“Next time, tell your chief to buy from Fujikawa International,” Toni told him, squinting at the technical specs on the back of the casing. “Nokia? _Ugh_...”

“Are they a tech producer?” Steve asked, spearing a piece of chicken on his fork.

Toni nodded. “One of the best out of Japan. I’m friends with the CEO’s daughter.”

“Wait. You mean Rumiko?” Steve had frozen in the action of bringing the fork to his lips. “ _Rumiko_ , your friend from school?”

Toni nodded again.

“So that’s four Witches,” Steve mused, nibbling on the chicken. “Four tech-savvy Witches.”

“I wouldn’t say ‘tech-savvy’ as much as tech-friendly. Ru heads the coven out in Kyoto. Her father and mother live in Tokyo and run the company from there.” Toni noticed Steve eyeing her plate meaningfully and took a bite to appease him. “Ru’s very old-fashioned in some regards, but otherwise very modern-thinking. She can’t get most electrical appliances to work worth a damn, but she doesn’t laugh at me for trying to integrate tech into my life.”

Steve hummed thoughtfully. “It’s just interesting that a tech magnate has a Witch for a daughter.”

“It actually runs on her father’s side, but it skipped a few generations.” She went back to examining the mobile.

“Huh.” Steve nudged Toni’s plate again and Toni took another bite. To the side, Jarvis snorted. Toni ignored her Familiar.

“Peggy’s got one?” Toni asked, turning to Steve again.

Steve nodded. “So do Thompson, Sousa, and Tasha.”

“So it’s senior officers and detectives only.” Toni chewed on a piece of broccoli. “I could probably manage to get the entire department Fujikawa phones.”

“That might be a good idea in the future, but for now we’ve got radios if we need ‘em.” Steve reclaimed his phone from Toni and bumped her plate with his elbow again.

“ _Dìus mai,_  I’m eating!” Toni quipped, jabbing her fork in his direction. “Do you just have a feeding fetish?”

Steve went scarlet and Toni burst out into laughter again. “Sorry, sorry,” she said, patting his shoulder. “I didn’t mean to offend your Catholic sensibilities.”

“It’s not the Catholic part, but thanks anyway,” Steve muttered, glaring at his plate.

“I didn’t mean to offend, period.” Toni nudged him, and he sighed. “Sorry, Steve, I didn’t want to make you mad.”

“You didn’t. It’s just…” Steve scrubbed his hand through his hair and made a face at her. “You can just talk about this stuff so easily.”

“Steve, it was a joke. Besides, fetishes aren’t-- oh,” she trailed off when he went even redder. “Wow, you haven’t in a while, have you?”

“What is that supposed to mean?” he sputtered.

“Nothing!” Toni reassured him. “I’m teasing, Steve. I’ll stop, I promise.”

Steve buried his face in his hands, his fork clattering to the countertop. “God _damn_  this Irish skin,” he groaned, muffled by his hands.

“Aww,” Toni rubbed his shoulder. “I think it’s kinda cute.”

“That doesn’t help.”

“Sorry.”

Jarvis snorted again, and Toni narrowed her eyes at him. He merely swished his tail in response.

“Look,” she said gently. “I’ll just eat and won’t talk, so that’ll be polite, right? You talk for a while.”

Steve muttered something she didn’t catch, and slowly took his hands away from his face.

There was a moment of awkward silence, then Steve sighed. “What do you want me to talk about?”

“How’s your mom?” Toni prompted, and promptly took a bite of stir-fry.

Steve latched onto the conversation topic, his face fading back to its usual color. “Still fighting like a champ. That potion Pepper gave her is really helping with the nausea. She’s gaining weight back.”

“That’s fantastic!” Toni hefted her fork in celebration. “Pepper will be thrilled.”

“Pretty sure Pepper already knows,” Steve pointed out. “Ma has a standing order with her.”

“Oh. Oh. Okay.” Toni munched on her dinner again. “What does the doctor say?”

“We’ll have to wait until he comes back out here, but last time he checked in, he said she was doing well.” Steve smiled.

Toni grinned back at him. “Well, she’s probably where you get your fighting spirit from, huh?”

“Probably.” Steve stirred his plate idly. “She was the disciplinarian when I was a kid. Bucky and me, she’d tan our hides if we caused trouble.”

“Oh, I can sense an embarrassing childhood story coming on. Go ahead, spit it out.”

Steve laughed, and with that launched into a ten-minute recollection of a time, some twenty years ago, when the carnival came into town and Bucky had convinced all the kids to sneak onto a spinning ride that they weren’t tall enough for. Toni was in stitches by the time he was done.

“...and when it was over, my ma was there in a towering rage, and the carnies were pissed, so she made Bucky and Arnie and me clean up all the vomit.” Steve wrinkled his nose, and Toni had to lay her head on the counter and heave for air. “And then she made us go back every day the carnival was in town and do whatever work the carnies didn’t want to do. She had Bucky’s sister supervise us, make sure we went, because she had to work at the hospital.” He sighed. “Never did like spinning rides or carnival food after that.”

“Good grief, Steve!” Toni wheezed. “You three are even bigger troublemakers than Rhodey and I were!”

“Bucky’s mom used to say the devil himself would go out of business if Bucky and I ever got married,” Steve said softly. “In fact, I think the old pastor, Father Lamton, was actively dreading that day.”

“Bet they’re all relieved now, huh?” Toni asked, laying the side of her face against the cold marble. “Bucky in the army and you on the police force. You two turned out okay.”

Steve tilted his head, smiling. “I think so.”

“So,” Toni chewed thoughtfully on the prongs of her fork. “When are you gonna let me put a tattoo on you somewhere?”

Steve rolled his eyes. “I don’t need one,” he insisted, narrowing his eyes at her.

“I’ll design one special, just for you,” Toni wheedled, and Steve did the thing where his jaw became the Lantern Jaw of Justice, and Toni really needed to find a way to remove thoughts like that one from her brain.

“I don’t need one, I can’t even afford one,” Steve reiterated, and Toni scoffed at him.

“It would be a gift,” she mumbled. “Just something to help.”

“A permanent tattoo is not an acceptable gift among us Cowans,” Steve answered.

“You’re not looking at it right,” Toni protested. She pulled her own sleeve back, exposing her left wrist and the three tattoos on the underside. “Look, these three are the first ones I ever did, back at the academy.”

“I thought you were left-handed?”

“Yeah, they make you cast your first spells with your non-dominant hand. Something about balance and energy.” Toni tapped a red-lacquered nail on the one furthest up her arm. It was in the shape of an eye ringed in a halo. “This one gives me focus, if I let it. This one,” she pointed to the next one, shaped like a snake. “This one staves off illness and exhaustion, in whatever way necessary. This one I did right before I graduated up to sophomore year, it keeps my hand steady.” Toni traced the design, a rune that predated even the Celts. “We don’t even need to pierce your skin,” she mused. “We could paint the designs on with bodypaint.”

“I don’t need you to cast any spells for me,” Steve stated again. He sounded exasperated instead of irritated, and Toni raised a placating hand.

“I just want you to be safe,” she admitted. “This murder… it’s got us on edge. We didn’t _see_  it coming.”

“At all?”

Toni shook her head. “I don’t like being caught unawares,” she said, shoving her dinner around on her plate.

“Perhaps the coven will have answers,” Jarvis said, echoing the general sentiment of the evening.

“So Bruce was telling me the truth. You’re calling a coven meeting tonight?” Steve asked, and Toni confirmed it with a short nod.

“We’ll keep you posted,” Toni promised.

Steve smiled tightly. “I’d appreciate that.”

Over the past decade, the town of Cravenswood experienced a profound commerce shift as the coven’s ranks swelled to the current count. As more and more Witches arrived, they started producing more specialized Craftwork for public consumption; as a result, Cravenswood had become famous for the sheer number of Witch-owned businesses.

Toni herself ran her metalwork and jewelry-making Craft out of her own home, along with Pepper’s botany and inks. On the side, Toni designed and inked tattoos, but the real talent in that field were Toni’s cousin Wanda Maximoff and the fiery Carol Danvers, who shared a storefront in-town that doubled as the place to go for piercings - Toni’s wares were displayed there as well.

Janet Van Dyne wove whole textiles and crafted her charms into them, and she and Jessica Drew crafted most of the fabrics she created into fashionable clothing for her boutique. They also tailored and repaired clothes brought in, sometimes updating the pieces for the owners. Jan had a real soft spot for vintage fashion and constantly worked old motifs into her current designs. The town of Cravenswood had a very distinct style, thanks to her.

Along with tattoos, Carol had quite the head for business; she’d managed to set up quite a roaring trade in the coven’s Craftwork. She frequently employed Rhodey and Wanda’s twin brother Pietro as short-distance and long-distance messengers and carriers respectively - in fact, Rhodey had just gotten back from delivering a shipment to one of their largest customer bases in San Francisco. These shipments couldn’t just be stuck in a package and handed off to the post office - a good many of them had disruptive spell elements, requiring an escort for the journey. Both Rhodey and Pietro proved exemplary as such.

However, even with their Craftwork in-demand all over the country, Cravenswood remained a hub of commercial business for the coven. People traveled from all over the state and even the entire Midwest to sample their wares. The town’s tourism trade boomed with every summer, helped by the presence of a lovely lake a few dozen miles away from town, and plenty of camping space in Craven’s Woods. However, now it was early October, so the tourists had left for the summer… that was a blessing, at least.

Now that she thought of it, Toni realized just how much that day’s murder could affect not just her coven but her hometown as well. If news of a sadistic murderer or possibly a rogue Witch drove off visitors and tourists, the town’s economy could suffer. Honestly, that just settled it: the coven needed to take direct interest in the murder, lest it impact their home.

Around ten, everyone just kind of showed up, milling around the front porch. The entire coven plus their Familiars were present, eleven Witches in all. Theirs was one of the largest in the Midwest, if not the actual largest, but it was an intimately Familiar group that fostered trust amongst its members.

“What’s this I hear about a Cowan getting killed?” Pietro demanded as soon as Toni opened the door to them all.

Toni raised her eyebrows at him. “Blessed be to you as well, Pietro.”

“Cousin,” Wanda said smoothly, sweeping between Toni and Pietro. She traced the Goddess circle on her forehead, and Toni returned the gesture. “Blessed be.”

“Blessings upon you all,” Thor said, a tad loudly. “Could we carry this on indoors?”

“It feels like there’s something listening,” Jane added, also tracing the Goddess circle. “I’d feel safer within some wards.”

“Conservatory,” Pepper called, and everyone trooped in.

The conservatory was Pepper’s domain first and foremost, and it was expertly sealed against outside influences. An immediate sense of peace and calm swept over the assembled coven as they took their seats on cushions arranged in a loose oval.

“Reaffirmation first,” Toni said, taking her place at the “head”. “Then we can talk business.”

They all clasped hands and fell silent, and then, one by one, cast their sigils into the consecrated Circle. To a Witch, his or her sigil represented them as an individual, crafted by the Witch to signify their talents and personalities. In order to complete a Summons for a daemon, a Witch had to choose a Working Name (known only to the Witch and his or her Familiar) and Bind the contract with the sigil. The sigil was like a Cowan signature - except, faking it had dire consequences.

“ _Getti’amos a’i nostri talentos nel cerchio_ _bendito_ *,” Toni said aloud. “ _Para su uso, O On’nipotente, creatorà d’Cowan e Streghe. No’ei costrui’amos noi mismos en vostri vasi, siamos su varità, su tiaz’zà, su espáda, su scudo, su martello, sus mani en questo mondo. A’così sià._ **”

“ _A’così sià,_ ” echoed around the circle.

They let go of each other’s hands, and the atmosphere relaxed noticeably.

“Cousin,” Pietro prompted her, now quelled.

Toni sighed. “CPD asked me to consult on a killing this morning, the likes of which I’ve never seen before.”

There was a frisson of surprise, quickly making the rounds through the Circle. Pepper and Rhodey were somber on Toni’s either side.

Toni launched into a description of the scene. The others, while no strangers to injuries and blood and having seen the world beyond Cravenswood before settling there, recoiled when she described what had happened to Tania McGee.

Toni sighed loudly. “I am sorry to bring such darkness into the Circle,” she said. “But I’m worried that the killer may still walk among us.”

“No one foresaw this?” Pepper asked, glancing at Wanda. Wanda was more skilled at Scrying with her black mirror than anyone else - Jane could occasionally call up the truth in a bowl that the moon was reflected in, and Carol was a walking lie detector on a good day, but Wanda would have been the first to sense something off.

Wanda shook her head sadly. "With all my heart, I wish I had."

"Did you..." Carol hesitated, then plowed on, addressing Toni. "Did anything... you know... pop out at you? At the crime scene?"

Toni shook her head. "It's like the scene was cleansed. The only thing left was the place-memory of what Tania was feeling."

Hank Pym, Jan’s husband, raised a hand. "The woods?" he prompted, looking intensely uncomfortable. He worked with the county agricultural committee, and frequently would be called upon to aid nearby farms. He also monitored Craven’s Woods, keeping an eye out for invasive species and disease. If anything was off, he would be the first to notice.

"What about them?" Pepper asked, her brows drawing together.

Hank’s Familiar, Horatio, in the form of a large armored beetle, spoke up from his shoulder. "It's just. The woods have gotten quieter. Something that doesn't belong showed up, and I can't seem to find anything remaining behind to tell me what it is."

Toni thought back to the morning. "There was this intense feeling of being watched, but I thought it was just me."

“You should know better than to disregard such sensations,” Jan scolded, smiling to soften her words. “ _Mon’ dieva,_  Toni, trust your intuition.”

Toni stuck her tongue out at her coven-sister. “Spare me.”

Jan smirked and rolled her eyes.

Hecate, a coyote, laid her head on Wanda’s thigh. “I concur with Horatio. The wildlife has fled for safer spaces.”

“How long has this been going on?” Toni asked of the group.

“It has only just begun,” Woden, a raven, said. “But we noticed much milder disturbances, maybe a moon ago.”

“Whispers,” added Freja, also a raven, “from the ambient daemons and Spirits of the forest.”

“Why are we only just now hearing about this?” Jane demanded.

“They were but whispers,” Freja repeated. “And the wildlife only began to flee en mass recently.”

“I have heard of a place,” Arachne hissed. “A place tainted with darkness, so unclean that the gods themselves recoil.”

Jess glanced at her Familiar. “Where is this place?”

“We do not go there,” the spider said, drawing in on herself. “Something lurks, now.”

“What?” Toni pushed. “What are you talking about? What lurks?”

“We do not know it,” Jarvis said. “The ambient Spirits of Craven's Woods are beginning to flee as well. I discovered that today as I was seeking out the coven.”

Toni closed her eyes. “How could this have been happening in _our town_  without us knowing?” she wondered.

“We were complacent, Mistress,” Jarvis murmured. “But now… I fear that whatever lurks in those woods has been drawn here.”

“The lurker holds power,” Hestia, Jan’s hummingbird Familiar, whispered. “Power we must beware. Even now, it’s taking root. Like a fungus.”

“We must cleanse this place!” Pietro decided. “At the next Sabbat.”

“I’m not opposed to it,” Toni allowed. “But this kind of taint doesn’t just happen on its own. There has to be someone Summoning this… whatever that’s lurking in the woods, scaring off the wildlife.”

“So let’s find them!” Jane suggested. “Hunt them down. We can ask around.” They all began speaking at once, voicing opinions and ideas, suggesting spells.

“Are you going to tell Steve?” Rhodey asked, and the others fell silent.

Toni opened her eyes. They all were looking to her expectantly. “I told him that I’d keep him updated. I firmly believe that if there is some kind of daemon roaming the woods, someone has to have Summoned it. If this is connected to Tania’s murder, then Steve needs to know.” She shrugged, feeling helpless. “Maybe we’ll be lucky and this will help solve Tania’s murder.”

“You are noble, for that desire for justice,” Woden said. “But something more lurks at the edge of the present.”

“What does that even _mean_?” Carol asked, exasperated.

“It means we are on the verge of something,” Apollo, an owl daemon, said ominously. “And even _we_  aren’t privy to it. The High Spirits have fallen silent.”

“That… that’s not a good sign,” Wanda said faintly. On either side of her, Pepper and Jane clasped her hands tightly.

Toni recalled her studies from years ago: she herself rarely worked with the High Spirits, which Cowans often referred to as angels or similar beings... but, from what she knew of them, they often took the role of Spirit Guides for sensitive Cowans who weren’t quite Witches, and dispensed advice, prophetic dreams, and divination signs to those who were skilled enough to look for them. If the daemon Familiars and the ambient Spirits were losing contact with these beings, that couldn’t bode well.

“We keep each other safe,” Toni looked up, meeting each coven member’s gaze in turn. “And we keep this town safe. At all costs. With all our power and skill. Agreed?”

Slowly, one by one, they all nodded.

“Come to me with whatever you find out, all right?”

They all nodded again.

Toni reached out and took Pepper and Rhodey’s hands again. The others followed suit. “ _O On’nipotente, parfavori ói’esia..._  we walk the Earth and cast your deeds. Bring blessings upon this coven, of brotherhood and sisterhood,” she intoned in English. The others cast strange glances her way - this wasn’t the usual closing Affirmation. “Help us in keeping our Vows, lend us your light to drive out this cruelty and darkness. _Gracesitto a tutto. A’così sarà._ ”

“ _A’così sarà,_ ” the others murmured. Their Sigils reappeared in front of each of them in turn, dissolving back into their energies. Toni breathed in as the taste of metal tanged on her tongue.

“Blessings upon ye,” Thor murmured, and he quickly got to his feet, helping Jane stand as well. “We must be getting home; we open the clinic early tomorrow.”

“Thanks for coming out here on such short notice,” Toni told him, also rising. He smiled and clapped her in a huge bearhug. Jane leaned in for one as well. They quickly left, their Familiars fluttering behind them.

Hank and Jan were the next to depart. “I woke early this morning and only managed a short nap today,” Jan said apologetically. Toni nodded in understanding, and they embraced before Jan,  Hank, and their Familiars took their leave.

“Hey,” Carol clapped Toni on the shoulder. “We’ll figure this out.” Apollo nodded in agreement.

“And you won’t let Steve down,” Jess said knowingly, waggling her eyebrows.

Toni snorted at them and waved them off. Jess made kissy faces at her as she scooped up Arachne, and Carol pecked Rhodey on the cheek on the way out.

Pietro and Wanda were still seated.

“Are the twins home alone?” Pepper asked, referring to Wanda’s sons.

Wanda shook her head. “Mrs. Altman agreed to let them sleep over.” She smiled tiredly. “It’s nice to have a quiet house for a night.”

“You know you could stay here, if you needed,” Toni reminded her, and Wanda shook her head. “I mean it, you’re family. This house belongs just as much to you as it does to me.”

“We appreciate the offer,” Pietro told her, rubbing the back of his neck. “But for now we’ve figured out our living situation. We have another year on the lease.”

Toni nodded in understanding. “Just… keep it in mind, okay?”

The Maximoff twins both gave her weak smiles, Wanda hugged Toni one last time, and they too left, Pietro with Hermes on his arm and Hecate bringing up the rear.

There was a knock at the conservatory door.

Happy poked his head in. “All done?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m coming.” Pepper patted Toni’s shoulder and gathered her purse and jacket. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Yeah,” Toni waved and Happy made a goofy face at her, which got a laugh out of them all. “Take care of yourselves.”

“Oh, Boss, you don’t need to worry about me,” Happy said in a cheery voice. Pepper took his arm and they disappeared out the door, Hera perched on Pepper’s shoulder. A moment later, the back door slammed and the sound of an engine revving to life drifted in through the window.

“You gonna be all right, all by yourself tonight?” Rhodey asked her.  
“I’m not alone,” Toni rolled her eyes. “I have Jarvis.”

“If you need me, you fly to me, got it?” Rhodey took hold of her shoulders and held her until she looked him in the eye. Toni finally conceded with a tiny nod, and Rhodey kissed her forehead before taking his leave with Ares at his heels.

“Mistress,” Jarvis spoke up, and Toni picked him up. “Mistress,” he insisted. “You need to rest.”

Toni sighed. “Fine,” she grumbled. She stepped over the cushions and left the conservatory, instantly feeling chilled. “No prowling around tonight, okay?” The thought of being by herself made something cold and sharp take root in her chest.

Jarvis purred comfortingly. “Of course, Mistress.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Veritan-to-English guide:_
> 
> * "We cast our gifts into the blessed circle"  
> ** "For your use, O Almighty, creator of Cowan and Witch. We craft ourselves into your Vessels, we are your wand, your cup, your sword, your shield, your hammer, your hands in this world. So mote it be."
> 
> " _Mon' dieva_ " = "my lady"
> 
> " _parfavori ói’esia_ " = "please hear us"
> 
> " _gracesitto a tutto_ " = "thank you for everything"
> 
>  
> 
> _Coven members and Familiar (regular forms):_
> 
> Pepper - Hera, a sparrow
> 
> Rhodey - Ares, a doberman pinscher
> 
> Jane - Frija, a raven
> 
> Thor - Woden, a raven
> 
> Jan - Hestia, a hummingbird
> 
> Hank - Horatio, an armored beetle
> 
> Wanda - Hecate, a coyote
> 
> Pietro - Hermes, a peregrine falcon
> 
> Carol - Apollo, a white barn owl
> 
> Jessica (Drew) - Arachne, a tarantula


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight transphobia/bigotry in this bit.

The next day dawned with the same sullen gray sky as the previous one.

“We should have asked Thor and Jane to fix the weather,” Pepper said, her mood as sour as said weather conditions. “All the plants are growing fine and all, but I could sure use some sunlight.”

Toni buried her nose in her mug of coffee and shrugged one shoulder. “Happy?” She addressed Pepper’s husband, lingering by the doorway. “You willing to let me ride along on your way into town?”

“It’s your stuff I’m buying, boss,” Happy grinned. He kissed Pepper on the cheek and ducked back out onto the porch, and Pepper glanced at Toni, her forehead wrinkled.

“Going to talk to Steve?”

“We need to get this ball rolling,” Toni answered. She downed her coffee and deposited the mug in the sink. “I’ll clean that up later. Jarvis, keep an eye on the house. Pep, just do what you think best if Greg shows up here again.”

Pepper nodded and Jarvis rubbed up against Toni’s ankles once more. She grabbed her jacket and shoved her feet into her boots before following after Happy.

“So,” Happy said, once the doors were shut and they were pulling out of the driveway. “You ever going to take my advice?”

Toni gave her friend and chauffeur a dry look. “Your advice has gotten me into sticky situations, Happy.” She pointedly didn’t mention that he’d been egging her on about her feelings for Steve ever since she met the detective. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather follow Pepper’s orders.”

Happy shrugged, clearly knowing which side of his bread was buttered and being totally okay with it. “Look, the only reason I’m married at all is because I took a chance and babbled at the totally beautiful woman I fell in love with. I’m not saying it’s universal.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Toni said weakly, and Happy laughed. “Hey, eyes on the road!”

They drove on, Happy humming tunelessly to the radio, and Toni mentally rehearsing what she’d have to explain to the homicide taskforce - basically Steve and Peggy, since they had been the detectives onsite - and wondering if it would be better to not tell the CPD that they had as good as no leads.

“What chance do you think we have of figuring out who Summoned an unspeakably unclean force in some spot in Craven’s Woods?” she asked Happy.

Happy made a raspberry noise. “Not even a name, huh?”

“Daemons - especially feral, ambient daemons - aren’t so good with human identifiers. They tend to figure us out by auras and energies.” Toni blew on the glass of the window, misting it over. She sketched a sigil in the fog and watched it fade. “Trust me, if our Familiars had been able to bring us a face or a name - either of the Summoner or the lurker itself - I’d be just as happy.”

“Well, don’t they know your names?”

“My Familiar knows _my_  Name because I had to state it to invoke him.” Toni wrinkled her nose. “You’ve been married to a Witch for how long and you didn’t know this?”

“These kindsa things don't actually make sense to us normal humans,” Happy informed her affectionately. “Most of our human relations _revolve_  around remembering names and faces. _You_  should understand the latter,” he added with a wink, and Toni narrowed her eyes at him. “Here’s your stop, Boss.” He pulled up right next to the squad car and popped the locks on the doors.

“Thanks, Happy. I’ll come find you in town when I’m done, or else I’ll beg a ride off of someone here.” Toni glanced out at the station and sighed. “Sometimes I wonder if I’m actually doing enough for this town.”

“Boss.” Happy’s voice was unusually serious, which prompted Toni to meet his eyes. “You do plenty.” He left unspoken the number of people that she’d helped with her Craftwork or as the Head of the coven, not to mention her years of consulting with the police.

Toni’s lips wavered in a weak smile. “Thanks, Happy. Have fun running errands.”

He saluted and she shut the car door as he pulled away from the curb.

“Well, look who it is,” a male voice drawled behind her.

Toni whirled around and came face-to-face with the smirking Detective Jack Thompson, lounging outside the station with a lit cigarette.

Inwardly, she groaned. Thompson was difficult to deal with on a good day, and she wasn’t feeling her best after a sleepless night.

“Morning, detective,” she said, not looking at him. She made to brush past Thompson, but he swiveled to block her way and slowly reached for the door handle. She narrowed her eyes, but still refused to look him in the face.

Ill-wishing only took eye contact.

Thompson pulled the door open all the way and gestured like he was doffing an imaginary hat. “After you, m’lady.”

Toni didn’t deign to respond.

“No black cats stuck up trees this morning?” Thompson asked as he flicked his cigarette away and followed her in. “No bad juju? Voodoo dolls? Ouija boards run amok?”

 _I am entirely too sober for this,_  Toni thought ruefully, but she made her way up to the front desk and caught the receptionist’s eye.

“Good morning, Strega Stark,” Rose said, smiling. “You here for Peggy or Steve?”

“Both, actually.”

“Go on back, they’re both in. Steve especially.” Rose winked at her.

Was she _that_  obvious?

She had worn a skirt that only reached just below the knee, but was made of silky enough material that it clung to her curves and swept and fluttered in her wake, and as she made her way back towards the bank of desks that the detectives shared, in a separate bullpen, she heard some of the guys whistle.

“Did I miss something?” Chief Dooley hollered from the other side of the room. “Did Carmen Electra walk in?” He received no response and scowled. “Then get back to your jobs, boys. You’re on the clock.”

Toni scowled and sidled up to Peggy’s desk. Thompson was already at his, and he was leaning back in his chair, feet propped up on the surface.

Peggy had an angry wrinkle in her forehead already, and her dark eyes flicked up to meet Toni’s. “Toni, darling, I hope you’ve got something for me.”

“Is Steve around?” _Rose had said he was in…_

“Using the restroom,” Peggy answered. “Take a seat.”

Toni tugged the visitor’s chair towards her and dropped into it. “Rough start?”

“Ugh,” Peggy dropped her head onto her desk and groaned. “We had Tania’s mother in to collect the personal effects once we matched the dental records.”

Toni felt like she’d swallowed a load of lead. “Ye gods,” she said, but she didn’t have any other words that fit the feeling.

Peggy nodded, still with her head pressed to the desk. “I’ve never done that before,” she admitted, her voice still muffled against the wood. “I never want to do it again.”

“Please tell me you have good news,” Steve said from behind Toni, and he appeared in her peripheral vision before he took his seat in the desk next to Peggy’s.

Toni sighed. “I’m afraid that no one recognized the ritual.”

Steve’s eyes widened. “Not even Thor?”

Toni shook her head, and Peggy let out a long moan.

“There is, however, a lead.” Toni shrugged. “Maybe. A tiny one.”

“Anything is better than nothing,” Steve said, and a few desks over, Krzeminski laughed loudly and shouted something that sounded like “and you’d know, Rogers!” in a tone that made the hairs on the back of Toni’s neck stand up.

Peggy shot a glare in Krzeminski’s direction, but other than a tiny line appearing between his brows, Steve didn’t respond.

“Minor lead. According to our Familiars, something strange and unnerving has been Summoned and is chasing all the animals out of Craven’s Woods.” Toni cut herself short and made a face. “Well, as far as I understand, that is.”

“So you think that’s connected?” Steve asked.

Toni held up a hand. “Now, we’re not entirely sure. Hank brought up the woods connection and I remembered that it felt like something was watching us at the crime scene. In any case, if something daemonic is prowling the woods, that means there was a Summoner.”

“Wait, hold on,” Peggy interrupted, her face scrunched up in confusion. “If someone Summoned something, that means there’s another Witch in town. Is Loki back?”

“No, we would know if he were. In any case, there’s talk of a place in the woods tainted by something--” Toni started to explain, but then Krzeminski was standing at Steve’s desk, idly swirling his coffee. Toni fell silent, and the uniformed officer gave her a look that was tinged with contempt.

“What,” Krzeminski said, taking a slurp from his mug. “I worked the scene. It’s not like you’re gonna say anything that’s gonna send me to Hell more than usual.”

Toni was too tired and wound up to start up that old argument again. “I personally think that this place that no daemon wants to get near could be the Workplace where this theoretical lurker was summoned.”

“No names?” Steve asked, scribbling furiously on his notepad.

Toni shook her head. “The daemons don’t really do human-like identifiers like we do. We were lucky to hear of what we did, as it seems the ambient Spirits and other forest daemons have fled.”

“But you’re sure there’s a summoner,” Steve repeated.

“How could they have concealed themselves from you? Is it a coven member? Some solitary Witch passing through?” Peggy asked, chewing on her lip.

Toni shook her head again. “I would know if one of my coven had done such a thing. Summoning a daemon requires you to give it your Name, not just your human name. Doing so forms a bond with it. None of my coven bear such a bond, it would have been evident immediately. The chance of a solitary Witch doing so seems more likely.”

Steve made a surprised noise and jotted that down too.

Krzeminski laughed at him. “You’re not taking this seriously, are you? I mean, it’s one thing to talk about the stuff they teach at the Academy, but this is literally spinning your wheels!”

Steve glared up at Krzeminski. “A girl got murdered yesterday and we’ve got no other leads. Tourist season has ended and the supply of town foreigners has dried up. Are you telling me you wouldn’t take whatever you could?”

“Might wanna be careful with the way you word things,” Krzeminski said, drinking from his mug again. His tone made it very clear what he meant. “Also, could you please stop using the men’s room if you have to do your business at the station? We don’t have a special bathroom for your type yet, _Annie_.”

Several things happened at once.

Steve’s pencil snapped in half in the moment that Peggy shot to her feet with a yell, knocking her chair backwards; Thompson barked out a wordless warning behind them, but Toni was closest.

She brandished a hand and a flicker of Power and snapped, “ _Tacar **è**_ , _allo'cuo!_ ”

Krzeminski's mouth slammed shut and he dropped his mug in surprise as he clawed at it, his voice muffled as he tried in desperation to wrench it open. Another gesture from Toni caught the mug and the coffee dregs contained therein in midair, and she snatched it out of its arrested freefall and placed it on Steve’s desk. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you that if you couldn’t find nice things to say, you should say nothing at all?” she said sweetly, batting her eyelashes at Krzeminski.

He gawked at her, his jaw hanging but unable to really drop since his mouth was magically sealed shut.

“Strega,” Thompson said faintly, and Toni glanced over her shoulder to see him staring at Krzeminski with a fairly mollified expression. “You can’t just leave him like that.”

Toni made a face at him. “I can’t?”

Krzeminski made more muffled yelling noises and gestured wildly at her, and Toni felt her remaining patience for the man evaporate.

“I said _be silent_ ,” she said, even more sweetly, and snapped her fingers.

Krzeminski fell completely silent as his voice disappeared altogether.

Toni pointed at Steve’s poor pencil, and it snapped back into one piece again. “Anyway,” she said as if she hadn’t been interrupted. “The coven is on the lookout and I’m going to be sniffing around in the woods for some sort of trail that might lead us to these two. Find the lurker, we’ll be able to track the Summoner.”

“Uh,” Peggy said, still staring at the silent and utterly traumatized Krzeminski with an expression of astonishment and delight.

“I don’t know,” Steve said weakly. “Maybe you should leave the investigation to the… uh… investigators--”

“I can take care of myself, Steve,” Toni said cheerfully.

Steve’s poker face wavered and a tiny smirk appeared on his lips. “That I already know.”

Krzeminski slammed a hand on Peggy’s desk right in front of Toni and pointed to his throat.

“Sorry,” Toni said, turning her face away and staring at the windowpane behind Peggy. “I don’t know sign language.”

Peggy stifled a laugh with her fist.

“What the hell is going on here?” Chief Dooley demanded, and they all turned to look at him as he strode over to the bullpen, Sousa at his heels, and moving swiftly despite his cane.

Sousa met Toni’s gaze for a second, glanced at Krzeminski, and a wide grin split his face. “Chief, it looks like Officer Krzeminski stepped out of line again. Did he start to argue with you about Hell?” he asked Toni.

Toni flicked a glance back at the silenced officer. “He tried, but that’s not the real problem I had with him.”

Dooley sighed in exasperation. “Strega Stark,” he said in a tone that belied absolute exhaustion. “Please release Officer Krzeminski from whatever spell you have him under. I need him to do his _goddamn job_ ,” he added with a growl in Krzeminski's direction.

The ensorcelled man winced, a full-body flinch, and Toni shrugged and waved a careless hand over her shoulder. “ _Quid factum sit potest omittere,_ ” she said, this time in Esperanto, and Krzeminski's mouth finally fell open and he made a _hork_  noise as his voice returned.

“Watch your tongue, or next time it won’t be so easy to undo,” Toni warned, not bothering to smile. She could feel the blueish energy crackling around her fingers, and she had to relax her hand so she could release it.

“Strega,” Dooley said sternly. “Do not threaten my officers in my station.”

“Not a threat,” Toni shot back. “A warning.”

Dooley hung his head in exasperated defeat and turned away. “Sousa, finish up and drop that paperwork on my desk before you go home today. The rest of you, behave yourselves.” He stalked across the station to his private office and slammed the door shut behind him.

Toni turned back to Steve and Peggy, but she caught Rose’s eye; the receptionist sending her a thumbs-up made her smile.

“Anyway,” she said, giving Krzeminski a significant look. The man squeaked and hurried away.

 

 

“I wish I could do that,” Peggy said wistfully, her chin in one hand.

Toni dimpled at her. “Who knows? Maybe you can, with just a glare!”

“God help us all,” Thompson muttered from across the bullpen, but they ignored him.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Steve said gruffly, his face scarlet.

“Steve,” Toni said, fixing him with her most serious expression. “Yes, yes I did. I had to.”

“No one was hurt, Stevie,” Peggy added, gently patting Steve’s shoulder. “And if Toni hadn’t done that, I would have punched him. Steve, I would have been suspended.”  Steve chuckled darkly at the revelation and she turned away to right her chair again.

Toni sensed rather than heard the whispering that erupted around them. Steve caught her eye, and gave her a wry smile. His eyes were tired.

Peggy was settling into her chair again when Bruce walked in through the door, his face grim. He stopped in front of Steve’s desk and dropped the autopsy report onto it. “That,” he said, tossing Steve a pen to sign for the report, “was the absolute worst autopsy I’ve ever done in my entire life.”

Toni whistled in surprise. Bruce had previously worked at a Detroit police station before relocating to Cravenswood two states over, citing a desire for a slower-paced life. He had surely seen gang war victims and gruesome murders aplenty.

Steve signed for the report and flipped the manilla folder open, his face paling even more than usual. “Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” he breathed.

Bruce turned to Toni. “One more thing,” he said, his brows drawn together in a way that wrinkled his forehead and made him look ten years older. “We should not have found as many flies as we did on Tania’s body. Liver probe puts her time of death as fairly early in the morning, as you know… so, there is no way carrion flies should have gotten to her body as badly as they did.”

Toni felt the bottom of her stomach drop out. “Unless,” she said slowly, putting a hand to her mouth. “ _Dìus mai._ ”

“Share with the class,” Peggy urged.

“Diabolical Craftwork,” Toni said hoarsely. “I’ve only ever seen it once or twice, in New York. Working with the diabolical, one of the signs of malevolent magick is the presence of corpse insects.”

Steve took in a deep breath and glanced up at the obviously stressed coroner. “How long does it take for flies to start showing up on a decaying body?”

“At least a day or two,” Bruce answered, running his hands through his already graying hair. “Never bare hours after the actual death has occurred. And it was night, too. And her body was covered. And there was rain.”

“So that means that magick was involved,” Steve said, fixing Toni with a very serious look.

Toni winced. “Gods, I was hoping it was a Cowan. This makes everything so much worse.”

“Could this be the side-effect of having a strange presence in the woods?” Peggy interrupted. “It could be connected to this daemonic lurker you described.”

Toni fought the urge to pull her hair out. “I want to go examine the crime scene again,” she said. “I want to look in the woods. I’ll summon Jarvis, and maybe Thor and Jane’s Familiars. They’ll be able to tell us where to look.”

“Let’s do that,” Peggy said, and she and Steve both grabbed their jackets and equipment.

Bruce eyed Toni warily. “Do I need to do anything to the body in my custody?”

Toni sighed. “Have Matt out here to bless her, and then cremate her.”

Steve looked up from checking his gun. “Her mother wants a burial.”

“Well, you and Matt had better explain to her mother that Tania’s spirit may not be able to pass on into the afterlife if her body is left intact with that sort of negative Craft affecting it.” Toni made a face.

“Mrs. McGee doesn’t go to Matt’s church,” Bruce pointed out. “She goes to Stryker’s.”

“Mother _fuck_ ,” Toni groaned.

Peggy snorted and Steve glared at her. “Language,” he said, jabbing a finger at her.

“Oh, please, tell me you wouldn’t curse after finding that little tidbit out!” Toni shot back at him. She turned to Bruce. “Seal the body up.” She grabbed the legal pad off of Steve’s desk and quickly summoned her powers, scribbling a series of sigils on the top sheet and infusing them with her will. She tore the page off and handed it to Bruce, thanking her lucky stars that she was one of the few Witches in the world who could make up spells on the go. “Put this on the body bag, and then lock it away until you can get Matt in here with me. If we can’t cremate Tania’s body, the least we can do is cleanse it completely before they bury it.”

“Mrs. McGee will not appreciate that,” Peggy said in warning.

“Mrs. McGee is foolish enough to follow Reverend Stryker,” Toni answered tersely. “She can do what she likes with her own body and soul, but I will not have her meddling with someone else’s, even if it’s her own daughter.”

 

“You sure about this?”

Toni looked up from dowsing, Jarvis slung over her shoulders. “Sure about what?”

Steve gestured at the small clearing near Tania’s murder site, Frija perched on his shoulder. “I could get a CSI team out here to scour this for us instead of us three crawling around on our hands and knees.”

“Steve, would they know what to look for?” Peggy asked. She was surveying the area with her hands on her hips.

“Well it’s not like they haven’t worked supernatural cases before,” Steve muttered. “Besides, how useful are we actually?”

“You’re helpful enough,” Toni answered distractedly. She nudged at the forest with her senses but didn’t get anything back. She sighed and put away her dowsing rods, stowing them in the long pouch at her waist. Then she unclasped one of the necklaces around her neck and wrapped the chain once, twice around her left pointer and middle finger, leaving the large garnet dangling. “I’m going to Scry now,” she told Jarvis.

“There’s no sign that anyone has regularly come here,” Peggy said, pushing her sunglasses up onto her forehead. “As far as I can tell, this place isn’t regularly disturbed.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too.” Steve glanced at Toni, and sidled up to her. “Anything?”

Toni allowed the gem to circle - her hand and arm were stockstill and not moving, but the crystal still moved, a lazy circle that slowly ceased after a minute. “Nothing,” she reported, disappointed.

“This is not the place,” Woden said from a nearby sycamore. The raven fluttered down and landed on Steve’s other shoulder. “The animals are still here, albeit sparsely.”

“Where did Hank say he was noticing the wildlife running away?” Toni asked, her brow furrowing.

“A ways away,” Frija answered. “Horatio would know.”

“Go find out from him,” Toni said to the Familiars, and they took off into the sky. “In the meantime, I want another look at the crime scene.”

“Maybe Jarvis has something to contribute?” Peggy suggested, scratching the silver cat under his chin. Jarvis purred in response, and Toni handed the Familiar over to her. The detectives headed back over to the still taped-off crime scene, and Toni took a moment to gather her bearings.

At the very moment that she was alone in the clearing, a sandy-haired young man with a boyish stubbled face stepped out of the deeper woods. “Hey, Strega Toni.”

Toni blinked. “Peter Quill?”

The half-Faerie man smiled at her and ambled over, dressed in plain clothes that looked like he’d nicked them from a ren faire. In fact, he probably had.

Quill was kind of one of the town legends, except not very much a “legend” per se; his mother had been seduced by a passing Faerie lord, and when she’d died some years later, leaving Quill an orphan, a group of forest Faeries had adopted him and he’d disappeared into the woods. He showed up from time to time to lend a hand when needed, but his grasp of Faerie magick was weak so most of the times he came into contact with the townspeople was to stock up on food and drink - apparently he had a talking raccoon sprite for a friend, and it really liked to get rip-roaring drunk. Middle-class Faeries tended to do that.

“I was wondering when you’d make an appearance,” Quill said, coming up alongside her. “Rocky has been going out of his mind trying to stick around. Something’s gotten into these woods that’s making everyone very uneasy.”

“That we already knew,” Toni informed him. “Hank and Horatio have reported the same thing. Wildlife fleeing and all?”

“In certain spots, yes.” Quill regarded the two Cowan detectives, at the taped-off crime scene. “There was a death here.”

“You saw it?”

“Nah, heard about it while I was in town, getting provisions and the like.” He frowned. “Did you know the girl? Is that why you’re so determined?”

“It doesn’t matter if I did or didn’t,” Toni said. “She was an innocent and her life was forcibly taken from her. I’m determined to find out who did it.” Faeries and daemons didn’t always grasp the concept of human justice, and Quill sometimes made social gaffes and blunders when he rejoined the human population of Cravenswood.

“I think I can help with that,” he said now, with the air of someone who had a juicy tidbit of gossip. “We’ve seen things. Gamora and Drax and me. Not so much Groot and Rocky, but they found the Bad Place in the woods. Won’t go near it anymore, but I could tell you where it is.”

Toni stared at him. “You… what have you seen, Peter? What have the others seen?”

“Hm? Oh, Gamora and Drax were the ones who saw the Beastly One.” Quill shrugged. “He has a Workplace, which Groot and Rocky found. It’s a disgusting place,” he added. “Feels sick, like when you cough and sometimes the food in your stomach comes out your mouth again.”

Toni made a face at him. “You’ve never had the flu?”

“Might have, Before, and nowadays I don’t have to because Gamora knows things! Like how to not catch sick,” he said, and Toni wanted to bang her head against a nearby tree for distracting him. Quill had been among Faeries so long that talking to him was about as much a chore as talking to a full-blooded Fae. “There are so many plants that keep, and your coven knows it, right? Because that Witch with the beetle daemon, he knows! And so do your doctor Witches! Hey, were those ravens their daemons? What’s that like, having flying daemons? Do Witches still fly? Why do people make them fly broomsticks when--”

“Peter,” Toni waved her free hand and gestured towards the crime scene. “Peter, what about the Bad Place?”

“Oh yeah, Groot won’t go there anymore. It makes tree Spirits sick,” he added. “It’s hard for any of us to go in there. It’s such a bad place! You know that Fae can be hurt by these dark things, right? Can you make them go away?”

Toni sighed. “The coven is planning on cleansing the woods at the next full moon Sabbat,” she said. “So just don’t go there in the meantime, and you all should be safe.”

“Good, but you won’t be able to keep the woods clean if you don’t find this Beastly One. He keeps _doing things_  in the woods. And now he’s got a nasty friend.” Quill grimaced. “An ordained Witch that perverted the Craft.”

“The Beastly One?” Toni asked.

“No, the Heretic. Gamora said that was good name for him, even if it doesn’t exactly tell what he is,” Quill added earnestly.

“I’m sure Gamora has the best taste in names,” Toni reassured him. “Okay, so we have a very, very bad Witch. What of this Beastly One?”

“Oh, he’s no Witch,” Quill said, shaking his head. “He’s a regular human. A Cowan.”

“What? How can that be? You said he had a Workplace.”

“He does. Gamora says it doesn’t matter to--” Quill looked around him. “Oh. Something’s wrong.”

Toni was about to press him for more when the garnet suddenly jerked straight into the air, in the direction of town. It pulled, so forcefully that Toni nearly lost her grip on the chain.

She cried out in surprise, and Steve and Peggy were back at her side right away.

The gem suddenly fell, as if whatever had been pulling it had suddenly dropped it.

“You two saw that, right?” Toni said breathlessly.

“With my own two eyes,” Peggy answered, staring at the now inert gem.

“You okay?” Steve asked.

Toni nodded wordlessly, and palmed the garnet before dropping it into another pouch on her belt. She didn’t want to chance wearing it if whatever energy that had grabbed hold of it decided to pull on it again.

Steve and Peggy suddenly noticed Quill, who had stepped forward in order to crouch down and examine the pouch containing the gemstone. “Hello Peter,” Peggy said, like she was talking to an easily spooked child.

“Hello police people,” Quill answered, poking at Toni’s hand. “Can I see that again? It was pretty.”

“Peter, now is not the time. I’m sure Drax has another gem you can look at.”

“Drax doesn’t share,” Quill said.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Toni told him. “But right now, I need to figure out what grabbed hold of my Scrying gem.”

“Did you sense anything, Mistress?” Jarvis murmured, and Toni eyed her Familiar as she attempted to recollect what had gone through her mind when the gem had moved.

“I was too surprised,” she admitted. She closed her eyes, tried to reach out to whatever energies were in the ambient forest, but came up dry again.

“It didn’t feel like a hit,” she said slowly. “It felt more like something caught hold of it and tugged.”

“There’s something in the woods,” Jarvis intoned, suddenly very tense in Peggy’s arms. “We are being watched.”

“Oh, I could’ve told you that,” Quill said.

Steve muttered something and crossed himself, and Peggy’s hand went to her gun. “Physical or metaphysical?” she asked.

“I’m not sure,” Jarvis wriggled, and Peggy let him jump to the ground. His golden eyes swept the forest, and the fur on his spine and tail puffed up.

Toni had never seen him like that, and she fought an involuntary shiver.

 _Hank wasn’t kidding,_  she thought, suddenly feeling a million times more uncomfortable than just a few minutes ago.

“Mistress,” Jarvis said, echoing her feeling of unease. “Mistress, there’s--”

The sun went out.

Quill cried out, Peggy gasped, and Toni felt Steve’s hand on her arm, tugging her back behind him for protection, but there was nowhere to hide.

The trees around them rustled, then thrashed violently, like they were in a storm, and it was all around them. The wind howled like some kind of unnatural beast, and Toni’s heart hammered in her chest. “Jarvis!” she tried to yell, and the howling picked up, sounding uncannily like the shrieks and screams of the damned.

For a moment, she thought she heard--

 _“Mi cuore--”_  her mother’s voice whispered in her ear, and then she was surrounded by the voices of people she knew were dead.

Her arm jerked free of Steve’s grasp as she fell to her knees, hands clasped to her ears as she tried to block out the accusing voices.

 _“Foolish girl,”_  sneered a familiar man. _“Did you think you could escape what you’ve done?”_

Toni screamed as her mind’s eye exploded in a supernova of images, some of which she couldn’t even comprehend, and the last thing she saw before she fainted dead away was the bloodied, eyeless face of Tania McGee, crouching over her, tongueless mouth open in a scream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “ _Tacarè, allo'cuo!_ ” = "Be silent, you oaf!"
> 
> " _Mi cuore_ " = "my heart"/"my love"
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> _Bonus Esperanto_
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> " _Quid factum sit potest omittere_ " = "What was done can be undone"


	4. Chapter 4

_seventeen years ago_

Seated on the stone steps to the library, Toni was immersed in her studies and tracing sigils in the air with her finger when someone blew on her ear. She jerked in surprise and shoved away a laughing Tiberius Stone.

“Ty, you idiot! I was Working! You aren’t supposed to interrupt someone Working!”

Ty wiped at his eye, the jerk. “Oh, Marie Antoinette, you’re so easy to spook!”

“You shouldn’t spook me even if I’m easily spooked!” Toni could hear her own voice getting higher-pitched, even whinier, but this was _important_ , the first thing a Witch learned.

“Relax, Toni, you weren’t _really_  Working,” Ty sniggered, scrubbing his fashionably long hair out of his face.

Toni glared at him.

“Good gods, Toni,” Ty whistled. “Channeling Siouxie Sioux, are you?”

Toni sneered at him and dismissed the edies of Power that had wound around her fingers, sending them back into the ambient energies surrounding them. “I like it.”

“You would,” Ty sniggered, putting an arm around her shoulders.

Toni sighed and made her upper body relax. “What do you want, Ty?”

“Just wanted to check in on my favorite Witch.” He punctuated with a squeeze.

“I’m serious, Ty. What do you want?”

He made a face. “To soak in your Aura, darling.”

Toni rolled her eyes. “And you wonder why people call you a leech?”

Ty snorted and snuck a kiss, a bare brush of lips, onto her neck and she snorted and pulled away.

“I _was_  Working,” she insisted. “I was practicing the daemonic Summons for my Familiar.”

“You couldn’t have been.” Ty said, scrunching his eyebrows together. “You’re only fourteen. We don’t do that until right before we graduate.”

Toni didn’t point out that Ty was eighteen and closer to graduation, yet his lackluster Summoning still needed work and if he didn’t practice he would never graduate with his class despite his otherwise exemplary talent set. She pulled away from him again, shrugging his arm off. “I’ve wanted my Familiar since I was old enough to know what they were.”

“Aw, you want a cute little pet?” Ty laughed. “A bird? Or a rabbit? A piggy? A toy poodle?”

“I’ll take whatever form it decides to come to me in,” Toni sniffed.

“That’s very noble, darling Marie Antoinette,” Ty said in a sing-song voice. “But you know that daemons are mindless creatures. Their only purpose is to serve us, Toni.”

“My mother’s isn’t.” Toni frowned. “Mindless, I mean.”

“I’m sure your mother’s daemon is as remarkable as they come,” Ty reassured her.

He was sounding too patronizing for Toni’s taste. She gathered her books and stood up, rearranging her skirt.

“Hey, Toni, don’t be like that--”

“It’s late,” she cut him off. “I’m heading back to my dorm.”

“It’s not late,” Ty said, trying to talk over her. “Toni, come on. Let’s go study, or we can do something fun in the politics section. How about a rousing debate of the validity of Witch-Cowan relationships?” He waggled his eyebrows.

Toni wasn’t in the mood.

Ty got up as she made her way down the steps, shoving her books into her bag as she walked. He called out to her, but she ignored him.

Being alone sounded really good, right then.

The next day, Toni slid into her seat in the lecture hall next to Rhodey, who gave her the once-over and raised an eyebrow.

“Hitting the absinthe last night?” he muttered.

Toni flipped him off and adjusted her sunglasses. “When will they invent a magickal cure for hangovers?”

“You probably will, one day when you no longer need one,” Rhodey said.

Toni sighed and rubbed at her temples, which only made her headache pound harder.

“Can you even make it through class?” Rhodey asked, actual concern creeping into his voice.

“I can try,” Toni answered wearily, but they both knew that Rhodey would be doing the majority of legwork.

“Just tell me what to do, Tones,” Rhodey said as the Professor took his place at the head of the class.

“Miss Stark?”

Toni froze, halfway through with escaping a mildly disastrous class with Rhodey at her side, at the sound of Professor Stane’s voice.

The bald Witch smiled kindly. “Would you be so kind as to let me have a moment of your time?”

She felt Rhodey’s gaze on her face, and she nodded shortly. Rhodey made a frustrated noise, but departed.

Stane leaned on the edge of his massive mahogany desk and tilted his head at the nearest row. “Take a seat, Antoinette. You’re not in trouble.”

“Yes, Professor.” Toni hesitantly lowered herself into a chair and dropped her book bag on the ground next to her.

“You know,” Stane said, drumming his fingers on his desk. “If every one of my normal, regular students were as talented as you, why! Witches would be making leaps and bounds in the world of undiscovered Magick.”

Toni blushed, something she didn’t do often if she could help it.

The door squeaked open as his Familiar, a dust-colored cougar named Ezekiel, nosed his way into the lecture hall.

Toni eyed the cougar and fought down a surge of longing as Stane reached out and scratched the Familiar between his ears.

“Useful creatures, aren’t they?” the Professor asked, meeting Toni’s eyes. “My Zeke may not be stealthy but he is strong, and he is just as well as a black cat or a raven at assisted Casting.”

“I’m sure he is,” Toni said wistfully.

Stane raised an eyebrow. “You want to Summon a daemon Familiar of your own, Miss Stark?”

Toni started and blinked, regaining control of her composure. She shrugged as nonchalantly as she could manage, but she was sure the Professor had gleaned all he needed to from locking gazes with her.

“I look forward to the Summoning,” she admitted. “My mother’s Familiar Ana was one of my primary caretakers when I was a child.”

“How sweet,” Stane answered, in a patronizing tone that sent her hackles up.

He seemed to realize his mistake and quickly backpedaled. “I personally wouldn’t let Zeke play with any children, m’girl,” he said. “But your mother must be a kind soul to have such a gentle daemon at her beck and call.”

Toni shrugged again, fighting to keep a scowl off of her face.

Stane cleared his throat. “In any case,” he said. “I wanted to let you know that I have plans to open an independent study course for select students... I'm wondering if that will include you?”

Toni breathed in suddenly. “Really?”

_Antoinette, dearest._

The sound of her mother’s voice made her look up from her her sketchpad, covered in sigils and runes and spells. Toni put down the brush and turned around, feeling like she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. “Hello, Mother.”

Maria Stark’s Astral appeared, wreathed in rosy light. Her hair and gown were floating like gravity had no hold on her, and she was barefoot.

She was also wearing a motherly frown. _That had better not be what I think it is,_  she said, and Toni was overwhelmed with a feeling of disapproval.

She winced as her mother’s Astral drifted to her side and peered at the sketchpad. _Toni._

Toni pulled a face. “Oh, Mother, don’t start.”

_Toni, you are not… you’re still a child. You’re not ready for a Summoning. What are you thinking?_

“I’m thinking I can pull it off,” Toni retorted. “My age is not a limit. I skipped all of these grades, I’m in advanced groups. I’m learning magick and rites that Professor Stane says even grown adults have trouble with--”

_Professor Stane?_  Maria repeated, and Toni felt a wave of emotion from her mother that she’d never been on the receiving end of before. _Professor Stane is encouraging this?_

“He doesn’t know,” Toni interjected. “I’m doing this on my own. No one is helping me.”

_That just makes this more boneheaded!_  Maria snapped.

“I can do this!” Toni protested. The air around her fizzled, as if lightning was about to strike.

Maria fell silent and stared at her with wide, worried eyes. _Antoinette,_  she said mournfully. _You’re so young. You have the rest of your life to be a fully-fledged Witch. Be a child now. Enjoy your time being free of the weight of the world on your shoulders._

“Who says I can’t do both?” Toni grumbled, looking back at her sigils. “I can be a fully-fledged Witch and still be a teenager.”

_Me bambina,_  Maria said, looking stricken. _Why are you trying to summon a Familiar?_

“I want to,” Toni said in a surly voice.

_Do you think you have to prove yourself to those around you?_  Maria demanded. _You have as much right to be at the Academy now as anyone else--_

“As you said before,” Toni interrupted her, not even bothering to hide her sour mood. “I’m just a child.”

Maria flinched, projecting waves of regret. _Toni, I didn’t mean it like that._

“Yeah, of course you didn’t.” Toni gently traced the Binding sigil with her finger.

_Toni,_  Maria pleaded with her. _I’m begging you. Don’t be rash about this. Daemons can be dangerous-- you have to give it your Name--_

“I already knew that!” Toni shouted. “I’m not stupid!”

Maria looked her over, eyes sweeping up and down, and her Astral form seemed to wilt. _I cannot stop you,_  she finally said. _But once you bond with a daemon Familiar, it’s permanent until the moment you die._

Toni nodded tersely. “I know.”

_I don’t want you to regret anything._

Toni laughed harshly. “Didn’t you know, Mama? I never regret.”

Maria sighed, and reluctant acceptance washed over Toni’s empathetic senses. _Blessed be, me bambina._

Toni didn’t respond, and Maria departed, taking all the cheer and warmth of the room with her.

At dawn, Pepper slammed the door to Toni’s dorm wide open and stormed in. “Tell me you aren’t serious.”

Toni sat up, squinting at the sudden noise and light. “I’m not serious.”

Pepper threw something down onto the bed next to her and stood over her, arms crossed. “What in the Seven Hells are you doing with this?”

Toni yawned and groped for the offending item, eventually lifting a phone headset from the receiver. She stopped mid-yawn. “Where did you get this?”

“The lab. You shoved it into my space over the weekend.” Pepper raised a pencil-thin eyebrow. “Toni, are you trying to bespell a piece of Cowan technology?”

Toni scowled at her. “Who are you to judge my hobbies? Besides, that’s on the back burner.”

Pepper threw her hands up into the air. “And here I am, keeping a promise to your mother to help you stay on track with your studies. Toni, you don’t have _time_  to play with telephones. Besides, once you’ve mastered Astral Flight… or when you’re twenty and have your Familiar--”

“What about the Witches who can’t Walk? Or the ones who are crap at Summoning?” Toni interrupted, crossing her arms. “Or even Cowans. Don’t you think non-Witches deserve foolproof tools for communication?”

Pepper closed her eyes. “It’s very valiant of you, Toni. When you’ve graduated and have earned your title, you can continue working on it. But for now, you have to stay focused and master the Craft--”

“I have mastered all of the basics taught here,” Toni talked over her, swinging her bare legs out from under the sheets and stumbling to her feet. “And don’t give me that patronizing look, _everyone_  keeps acting like this, I can do this! I can marry magick and tech, and I already have!”

“Okay, disregarding your massive ego,” Pepper now had her hands planted on her hips, and her brows were drawn together in a severe line. “You know that magick makes electronic tech go haywire. If you manage to combine the two, you’d be achieving the impossible.”

“That’s what I do,” Toni said sweetly. “And it’s not egotism that has me saying what I did.” She gestured at her desk.

Pepper strode over to the workplace and glanced down at it. At first she looked back up at Toni, but then did a double take. “These runes are for a Summoning and Binding.”

Toni waited.

Pepper looked up once more, aghast. “You’re going to Summon a daemon and Bind it to you?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Toni, you’re ridiculous! You’re still a kid!” Pepper looked dangerously close to a meltdown.

“Hello Miss Pot, I’m a kettle. You’re sixteen and in the same classes as me!” Toni reminded her. “Wouldn’t you like to have a companion for all your Work? Wouldn’t you like to have a loyal friend?”

“Toni, the minute you complete a successful Summons -- that is, assuming the daemon doesn’t break its Binds and kill you first -- the Shadow Council will know! You’ll be duty-bound to answer to whatever they ask of you!”

Toni pursed her lips. “I can handle that.”

“You don’t think they’d take interest in the child prodigy daughter of one of the strongest Healers in the country and America’s renowned weapons designer?” Pepper stared at her. “They’ll be after you until the day you die.”

“They can chase me if they like,” Toni answered resolutely. “I have the right to turn them down.”

“Barring a true crisis!” Pepper pointed out.

“There is such a small chance of that happening,” Toni replied, gathering up the telephone and depositing it on her desk. “Is there anything else you want to yell at me for? My mother visited last night and pretty much said everything you did.”

“And you’re still going ahead with it?” Pepper said in disbelief.

Toni shrugged again.

“You’re… you’re out of your mind.” Pepper took one last look at her desk and then turned on her heel and disappeared out the dormitory door.

Toni flipped the sketchbook closed and sighed heavily.  _I wish someone would agree with me. Just this once…_

“Rumor has it that you’re trying to bespell a telephone.”

Toni groaned and ground her palm into her eyes. “God damn it, does this student body have anything else to do other than gossip?”

Rumiko Fujikawa laughed, dark eyes glittering with good humor, and dropped a massive tome onto the desk in front of Toni. “I think this will help, if you can read Italian.”

“I speak Veritan. Italian isn’t too far off from it.” Toni flipped the thick leather cover over, opening the book, and scanned the preface. “Hm.”

“If you ever figure out how to create better communications for Cowans, let me know. My father has had his eye on the mobile telephone market for some time now.” Rumiko waggled her eyebrows.

“He’ll be the first one I tell.” Toni glanced up at her friend and classmate, then sighed. “Ru, do you think I’m nuts?”

“To want to try new things? Explore new options in magick? Not at all!” Rumiko pulled up a chair and plopped into it. “Archimedes and Merlin, Himiko and Confucius... would we have such a grand command of the forces at our fingertips if those people hadn’t tried to crack the secrets of daemons and magickal forces in their time?”

Toni dropped her head onto the desk. They were in the library, in the common study area, and a few university academic students were gathered two tables over, debating furiously (and quietly). Tiberius would rather chew off his own arm than stay there for any extended period of time, so Toni had been left blessedly alone for a long while.

“Everyone seems to think I’ve lost my mind,” she admitted to Rumiko, “and what’s worse is that sometimes I believe them.”

Ru frowned. “From what I understand, you’re making progress?”

“In what? Magicking a telephone into working better? Or something else?”

Rumiko bit her lip and leaned forward, dropping the volume of her voice. “I’ve heard other things, from other sources. You’re trying to get a jumpstart on Summoning a Familiar?”

“I know I’m capable of it,” Toni said fiercely. “It’s just…” She started tugging on her hair, fighting the urge to cry out loud in frustration. “There’s something missing! And I don’t know what it is!”

Rumiko caught her wrists and pulled them away from her head. “Hey, don’t beat yourself up like that. You’ve got years until you need to start worrying about it.”

“I can do advanced magick beyond what this academy teaches. University-level spells. But I can’t even manage to make the Call.” Toni’s breath hitched. “Rumiko, what if I never actually complete a Summons?”

“Plenty of Witches live without Familiars, Toni,” Rumiko insisted. “There’s no shame in that.”

“But I _want_  one,” Toni breathed, almost hysterical. “I want one more than I’ve wanted _anything!_ ”

Rumiko rubbed her back comfortingly and glanced around them. “Toni, let’s go back to my room. Something’s happened, hasn’t it?”

Toni met her gaze for a moment, then slowly nodded.

“He said what?”

Rhodey’s exclamation startled Pepper and made Toni flinch. “ _Calma_ , Rhodey. As much as I appreciate your indignation on my behalf.” She underscored her words by twisting the blanket spread over her lap.

The four of them - Pepper, Rhodey, Rumiko, and Toni - were gathered in Rumiko’s dorm, a few floors away from Toni’s and down the hallway from Pepper’s.

“No, I’m inclined to agree with Rhodey here, Toni,” Pepper said, glancing around at all of them. “Your father can’t do that. That’s almost child cruelty.”

Toni leaned her head back and attempted to swallow the lump in her throat. “Well, it’s come down from on high that from here on out, I’m not to contact my brother or even my cousin from that side of the family. Something about magick and Cowan business not mixing.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Rumiko said, outraged. “Tell him to try telling that to my father!”

“He won’t cut me off entirely,” Toni went on. “And he can’t stop my mother from contacting me. And…” She paused, the words on the tip of her tongue tasting bitter. “Greg… Greg agreed.”

“ _What?_ ” the other three shouted in furious unison.

“A second letter arrived after my father’s. Greg… it was him, it was his writing. He said he’d always envied me… almost hated me…” Toni looked up helplessly at her friends. “Did I… did I ever do anything to hurt him? Please be honest with me.” She didn’t cry, but her lower lip trembled.

“You would never,” Rumiko insisted angrily.

“I’ve never seen anything like that!” Pepper added.

“He’s out of his fucking mind!” Rhodey slammed a fist down on the arm of the chair he was sitting in. “I’ve known you since the two of you were in diapers and you have _never_  lorded your powers over him. I never liked that little sleazeball--”

“He’s still my brother!” Toni said sharply.

Rhodey looked at the ground. “Sorry.”

“But still--” Pepper burst out. “Toni, you… that’s just cruel, Toni. That _is_  plain cruel. You don’t deserve any of that!”

“Well, it’s not like I’m going to be missing Morgan,” Toni said wryly, a weak attempt at humor.

“Toni, don’t try to joke this off!” Rumiko snapped with barely veiled anger. “Your father has no right to say this stuff!”

“He always resented me. That I took after our mother.” Toni stared out the window, at the cloudless sky of upstate New York. “He made my mother do her Work in private, practice her Craft in secret for as long as I can remember. He was so _angry_  when she insisted on sending me here. She put her foot down against him for the first time, argued with him for the first time ever.” Her shoulder slumped and she deflated in sheer weariness. “I guess this is his revenge for that.”

“Toni,” Pepper said quietly. “Toni, this doesn’t mean you have to run yourself ragged to prove yourself. You don’t have to _prove yourself_.” She reached out and gently put a hand on Toni’s knee. Toni met her gaze and sensed the endless kindness and sympathy in her soul, along with the surge of righteous fury and protectiveness that had drawn the older girl to Toni in the first place.

“But… but I _want_  to,” Toni whispered. “This is all I have left.”

“We can’t stop you from doing anything,” Rhodey admitted, scrubbing a hand over his face. “But… please. Be careful? Don’t hurt yourself.”

Toni looked up, at the earnest, sympathetic faces of her friends. “I won’t,” she promised.

“Come _on!_ ”

Toni slammed a fist into the dirt, wishing desperately that she could sob. It was two months after receiving that fateful letter from her father and it was almost a week after her friends extracted her word that she wouldn’t harm herself, and she was seriously considering throwing herself from the Academy’s roof.

“Why won’t you _work?_ ” she demanded, not bothering to hide her frustration. The only beings around to witness her behavior were the nascent Fae and perhaps a few Spirits, and even if she was emotionally compromised she still had enough skill to sledgehammer her way out of trouble.

She was tired, sore, drained, and desperately wishing for a drink. She was in no shape to Call out into the abyss and see what responded.

Toni looked out at the forest and got to her feet, wiping her knees clean and resettling her skirt. From her perch on top of the main building, in the senior garden, she could see the forest at the edges of the academy property, and the fading light of twilight over the treetops.

Toni breathed the crisp early spring air and decided she’d try one last time. She made her way back to her Circle, dropped to her knees in the dirt. Reached out into the last vestiges of the day.

Breathed.

“ _Hear me, beings of the Beyond,_ ” she said hoarsely, her voice whittled away to nearly nothing. “ _Hear my Call. Heed the sound of my Voice. I am Summoning you, willing blithe spirit, to join me in this World. Show yourself to me._ ”

The wind whistled over her head.

“Please,” she whispered. “Please come.”

The Circle began to glow, pulsating with energy around her. The rose quartz crystal at the north corner began to shine like a beacon, and then the Gast Fyre swept over the Circle scratched into the dirt of the senior garden.

Toni was startled into silence, her breath caught in her throat, as the Fyre ignited the quartz at the west corner, then the south one, then the east.

The fire lapped at the inner circle, licked its way in, then coagulated within the daemonic boundaries into a white-hot flame hovering above the dirt.

“Speak,” the daemon said.

Toni’s mouth fell open. _It worked!_

“Speak,” the daemon repeated itself, sounding patient, content.

“I…” Toni gulped. “ _Ie sonno Sofronnia, la Strega Antoinette Sophia Stark di la famiglia di la tierra Roma, di la sangua fada, di la ossatura diella Deava._ *” She traced her Sigil, the one that was hers and hers alone, and released it into the Circle for the daemon to see.

The daemon chuckled. “I greet you, Mistress Antoinette Sophia Stark, _Strega_  of the Goddess.”

Toni felt something warm take root in her chest, flowering within her; a joy unlike she’d ever known spreading to fill her soul.

“Do you take me as your Familiar?” the daemon asked.

Toni nodded. “I do.”

The daemon’s Fyre blazed brightly, then faded, moulding into a physical form. The Fyre winked out, leaving behind a silver cat with eyes the same color as her mother’s.

“The Contract is sealed,” the daemon said in a more human voice, sounding like an affable English gentleman. “Do you have a name for me, Mistress?”

Toni smiled as she thought back, to the _Marvels_  comics she and Greg had squirreled away and read under their bedcovers as children. The dashing adventurer and his faithful butler.

She reached out, breaking her Circle. The cat pushed his silky head into her palm, purring.

“Jarvis,” she whispered. “Hello, Jarvis.”

_seventeen years later, present day_

Toni awoke to a whitewashed ceiling and an overwhelming smell of tea. She tried to breathe deeply, but found something heavy was placed on her chest.

“Mistress,” Jarvis’s voice said from around her collarbone, and the Familiar uncurled from his perch on her torso and wound his way up to her cheek, rubbing his head against hers. “Mistress, we were so worried.”

“We?” Toni blinked. “Where am I?”

“Our clinic,” a familiar man’s voice answered, then Thor was leaning over her, grinning. “Welcome back to the land of the living, Toni.”

Toni groaned and scrunched up her forehead. “What hit me?”

“We’re not entirely sure,” Thor answered, and Woden landed on his shoulder. “Our familiars alerted us to your plight, told us you were coming. Quill, Steve, and Peggy brought you here.”

“What happened?” Toni asked, a thread of worry working its way up her throat.

“Steve said you were attacked. He couldn’t tell me what attacked you, only that it just affected you. You collapsed, and have been out for an hour or so.” Thor helped her sit up on the cot, and Jarvis climbed back onto her lap. As soon as Toni was mostly upright, Thor began to check her over. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“There was… screaming.” Toni buried her hand in Jarvis’s fur, and her Familiar began to purr comfortingly. “Like the armies of the Damned were swarming us. The sun was blocked out. Did that happen everywhere?”

“No,” Thor answered. He shined a penlight in her eyes. “No, you five were the only ones who experienced it.” He frowned, his genial nature dimmed somewhat. “Shook Steve and Peggy up something fierce. Not sure about Quill, he seems to have recovered quickly enough, but Steve looked ready to fall over.”

“It would,” Toni admitted. “I was terrified. I’ve never… experienced anything like this.”

“Was it one ‘something’ or many?” Thor checked her visual tracking and peripheral.

“I… I don’t know.” Toni felt a cold sweat break out over the back of her neck, down her spine, on her forehead. Her hands began to shake. “Th-there’s something in the woods.” She grabbed Thor’s arm. “ _There’s something in the woods!_ ”

“Antoinette--” Thor said, grasping at her wrist. “Toni, get ahold of yourself--”

“Toni?” Jane came into the room - an examination room, Toni realized - her labcoat flapping behind her, Frija perched on her arm. “Toni, what’s wrong?”

Toni’s armor finally cracked. “I don’t know,” she almost yelled. “I don’t know, but there’s something… it touched my mind, I don’t know what it is-- t _here’s something evil in Craven’s Woods!_ ”

“Toni, you need to breathe, you need to calm down,” Thor said urgently, a hand on her shoulder, trying to push her back down into a supine position. “Toni, you will work yourself into a panic, you need to _breathe_ \--”

“Toni?” Steve’s voice sounded from the waiting area, and there he was, shouldering his way past the receptionist, Darcy Lewis, and into the examination room. “Toni, what happened, are you okay?”

“Strega Toni!” Quill popped in after Steve, towing Darcy in with him. “Toni, you wouldn’t believe all the music Darcy has on her computer, she can make her own compact disks--”

“Shh, Petey, honey,” Darcy shushed him, tugging the half-Fae back out into the waiting room.

“Steve!” Toni looked at him, met his eyes, and she was sure she looked like a madwoman. “Steve, please, tell them--”

“Steve wasn’t affected like you were,” Thor spoke over her, still trying to get her to lay down.

“Then ask Peter--”

“Toni, you were the only one who sensed that.” Steve was at her side, and he took her hand into his and cut through her anxiety attack. She stared at him, frozen and silent, as he squeezed her hand. “Um…” he looked away, and the three Witches suddenly held their breath in unison, sensing something awry.

Steve looked up, at each of them in turn. “There’s… there’s been another murder.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> " _me bambina_ " = "my girl"
> 
> " _calma_ " = "calm [yourself]"
> 
> *"I am 'Sofronnia', the Witch Antoinette Sophia Stark of the family of the Roman land, of the fated blood, of the bones of the Goddess."


	5. Chapter 5

Clutching at Steve’s arm, Jarvis padding alongside her, Toni haltingly made her way to the processed crime scene. Once again, it was a vaguely remote and deserted area - this time, a house under construction. As before, the woods ran along the border of the property.

Officer Natasha Romanoff lifted the yellow tape and ushered them under. “Bruce took the body,” she said. “You two took too long.”

Toni gulped. “I’ll stop in to see him later, check it over.” Secretly, she was relieved; she didn’t think she could handle seeing another person torn open like a piece of meat.

As soon as they reached the spot where the victim had most likely died, Toni stopped in her tracks, tugging Steve into stopping as well.

“There’s nothing here,” she said. Her senses were on full, and she could taste the almost clinical cleanliness of the crime scene. It smelled to her like bleach, now that she thought of it.

“You’re positive?” Steve squeezed her hand, as Natasha glanced back over her shoulder.

“Absolutely,” Toni answered. “It’s… empty here. Like being in a sterilized room. There’s no place-memory. Not even the victim’s last moments.” Despite the lack of ambient energy, the place stank of death; Toni felt nauseous just breathing.

“Can you make sure?” Steve asked under his breath.

Toni nodded and gestured at Jarvis. “Back me up.”

Jarvis took off, a silver streak, around the crime scene, dodging officers and winding between legs. He spiralled inward and paced around the outline, tail curled like a question mark, and gently placed one of his paws inside of it. His tail shot straight up, stiffened in surprise, and once again, for the second time that day, his back arched and his fur puffed out.

Toni felt her mouth go dry and she Called, silently, and Jarvis returned. The Familiar was unnerved, she sensed his stiffness as she picked him up into her arms and gathered him close to her chest. “There’s nothing there, is there?”

Jarvis didn’t respond, just shuddered, and Toni nodded to Steve. “Take me to autopsy.”

 

The victim this time was an elderly woman who had lived in the neighborhood right near the downtown section. She’d owned her house ever since the suburbs had sprung up, in the late forties, and had outlived her husband and only son. Her name was Elena Cardenas.

She’d been gutted just like Tania. Staked to the ground spread-eagled, and stripped naked. And there were flies. Lots of them.

Toni put her hand over her mouth and tried not to retch.

“I knew her,” Steve said quietly. “I grew up down the street from her. She goes...” he visibly shuddered. “Went. Went to my church.”

“I… I’m sorry, Steve.” Bruce wrung his hands, not meeting the detective’s eyes. “Do you know if she had any next-of-kin?”

“Not that I know of,” Steve answered sadly. “I’ll look into it, but…” He stared at Elena’s body, her torso now covered with a cloth to preserve her modesty. “Fill Toni in and let her do what she needs to do.”

Bruce nodded, and Steve excused himself. Peggy instead stepped forward wielding a pen and notepad.

“Time of death is estimated to have been about two in the morning--” Bruce started to say.

“ _Carillon d’inferno,_ ” Toni murmured. She made a sound rubbed her forehead. “And the carrion flies are already everywhere… well, that just confirms it.”

Peggy gave her a concerned look, but nodded to the coroner to continue.

Bruce flicked on the overhead light and used one of his tools to open the dead woman’s mouth. “The killer took the same body parts as last time,” he said with no preamble. “It looks like the same tool, the same knife even, was used.”

“So you think the perpetrator is the same as the last one?” Peggy asked.

“That’s the short version of it.”

Toni hugged Jarvis closer to her, and let out her breath in one big whoosh. “From the photos and the paraphernalia at the scene, plus the lack of place-memory, I think I can corroborate you on that. The same kind of ritual was used, and the place was cleansed in a similar way.”

“So we might have a serial killer,” Bruce said faintly. "I hate those."

“We can’t definitively call it that,” Peggy answered, her tone firm. “Whoever this is, they may stop at two.”

“They won’t,” Toni said, feeling disconnected, her voice coming from far away. “This isn’t an isolated pair of incidents.”

“Evidence points to a meticulously organized killer with a literal ritual, but despite--” Bruce pointed out, but Peggy waved him to silence.

“What do you mean, Toni?”

Toni shuddered, a full body shake, and met Peggy’s eyes. “Just… got a feeling. This isn’t going to end quickly.”

Peggy narrowed her eyes. “Just a feeling?”

“I can’t explain it.” Toni shrugged, feeling useless and flabby. “It’s like how some people can tell a storm is coming.”

“You’re seriously feeling this?” Peggy asked.

“Yes.”

“Bloody hell,” Peggy muttered under her breath. She nodded to Bruce and gestured at Toni. “C’mon, we’re going to leave Doctor Banner to his work.”

With that, Peggy marched Toni out of the morgue before Toni could get a word in.

 

“Did you seriously just tell me down there that we have a serial killer in this town?” Peggy demanded, albeit quietly. “Because you haven’t been fielding the calls from concerned citizens all day.”

“No, I understand, but I just _know_  that this isn’t over yet.” Toni winced at the expression on the detective’s face. “There’s also the rule of three.”

“Wait, I took lib arts in college, that sounds familiar. Isn’t that an art thing?”

“It applies to multiple disciplines. You’ll find it in almost every major religion.” Toni fell silent as they arrived at the precinct offices, and Peggy led her over to her desk for the second time that day.

Steve was seated at his desk, going through his notes with a hesitant slump to his demeanor. “Our killer struck yesterday and then again today.” He glanced up at Toni. “Why such a small interval between killings? Any major meteorological events going on? Solstices?”

Toni shook her head. “No, nothing major is being celebrated.” She sat down gingerly in her usual seat. “And as far as I know regarding the weather, nothing out of the ordinary has been happening except for a depressing lack of actual sunlight. Jane and Thor haven’t mentioned anything to me.”

“Bloody hell,” Peggy said again, dropping into her seat.

“We have to warn the public,” Steve said. “Two within twenty-four hours? No pattern? No established victim preference? We have to do something.”

“I would tread carefully to prevent inciting a panic, but otherwise I’d agree,” Toni said, and Jarvis climbed up onto her shoulder to glare at the staring officers behind her. “It might be best to check with the chief to see if there’s anything else. I don’t want to be stepping on his toes in handling this.”

“We can’t nail down anything distinctive about this killer,” Peggy pointed out. “We need more data.”

“Only way we’ll get that is another body,” Steve answered morbidly.

“Toni thinks there will be another.” Peggy dropped her head onto her desk.

Steve eyed Toni. “You think?”

“Yeah… it’s a feeling,” she admitted. “Like, the creepy-crawly kind. I can’t even begin to explain it.”

“We Cowans have a word for it,” Steve said, somewhat grimly. “Intuition. Also known as gut instinct.”

“That’s not very useful,” Toni said. “My intuition has never felt like this.” She glanced around them, then leaned forward. “Peter Quill had some interesting tidbits to share. Before we left the clinic, I got him to tell me.”

“Do tell,” Peggy said dully. “I don’t know how you can talk to him, it’s like talking to a hyperactive six-year-old.”

“How old is Sharon, again?” Toni asked.

Peggy groaned. “Nine.”

“Ah. Nevermind.” Toni shook her head. “Once you’ve dealt with the Sidhe and Unseelie Court, a few forest sprites and their half-Fae adopted ward are no real problem. Especially since they confirmed something I suspected.”

Peggy and Steve both fixed her with intent looks, and she continued, “So the ambient spirits and the lesser daemons have fled the woods because something is lurking in there, right? I reasoned that there had to be some sort of Summoner involved…”

“You found them?” Peggy asked, looking like a drowning man being offered a life preserver.

“Possibly.” Toni drummed her fingers on the desk. “The Fae refer to him as the Beastly One. They don’t recognize him, because he’s always masked when he Works. What’s worse, he’s a Cowan. He shouldn’t have any power. But…” Toni hesitated, then pressed on. “But the Fae say that it doesn’t matter. He believes so strongly in this Working persona that he’s created that his Craft is actually _working_.” It was this bit of information that Quill had been most eager to tell her. Apparently Gamora had heard of other such cases in other towns, and according to Quill, she was quite unnerved that it was possible. Toni couldn’t blame her.

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” Steve said faintly.

“Oh, it gets even worse. Peter mentioned that a disgraced Witch - excommunicated, for all intents and purposes - made contact with the Beastly One and has come to town. He perverted the Craft for his own purposes, and the Powers That Be kicked him out, as far as I can tell. Peter was a bit vague on it.” Toni shuddered. “They call him the Heretic.”

“So we now have two suspects and possibly a really nasty daemon running loose in our woods,” Steve summarized wearily. “That’s more than we had this morning.” He looked up and met Toni’s eyes. “Let’s find that Beastly One and bring him in to answer a few questions.”

Toni nodded in agreement. “I got the location of the ‘Bad Place’ from Peter before we left the clinic. Let’s hit it and see if I can track him and his new friend down.”

“I’ll talk to Dooley,” Peggy said. “And just to be safe, if anyone comes at you two with a knife? Shoot them.”

 

“I hate this place,” Toni decided, drawing her jacket even tighter closed. They were still in Craven’s Woods, but it felt like they might as well be in a different world - or a horror film; the trees had already shed their leaves, and those leaves blanketed the ground in a slimy carpet. The bark had faded to gray and white, and in some places was peeling. A strange mist occasionally wove between the trees, and the air was chilled like the first cold snap of the winter had come early. There was an oppressive sense of emptiness and a pervasive cold, along with an unnerving lack of natural sounds and ambient noises that set her nerves on edge.

Jarvis echoed her sentiment by walking with an arched back, his tail puffed out in displeasure. Toni hadn’t seen him display so much defensive aggression since New York.

“I may not have a drop of magickal blood in me, but I can say I feel the same. Definitely.” Steve peered into the canopy, his eyebrows drawn together. “This place is… unhealthy. Sickly, even.”

“Yeah, that’s a good word for it.” Toni closed her eyes and pushed her senses to stretch out, feeling for the edge of the _wrongness_. “But… this is strange, though.”

“How so?”

“Well, it’s like… there is something here. It’s cold, it’s almost _slimy_. And you’re feeling the sickliness too. The other two crime scenes were… surgically clean.”

Steve made a displeased noise and squinted into the distance, where a fog was making its way through the trees. “Way I see it, this place is supposed to be where the Beastly One does his Work, right? So this is his place, like how your workshop is. Consecrated, right?”

“Typically, you do consecrate your Workplace. This place isn’t, though.” Toni tried to cleanse herself with a sigil, but it faded before she could even finish tracing it. “ _Carillon d’inferno,_  this place is like a dead zone.”

“Toni, if this guy is using this place as a Workspace for a perverted form of the Craft, it makes sense that he’s left some kind of magickal residue floating around.” Steve crouched to brush aside more leaves, revealing yet another Circle. “Found another one.”

“Oh, great. There’s got to be dozens in this area alone.” Toni chafed her hands.

Steve looked up at her, his eyes worried. “Your lips are blue.”

“Well, yeah, I’m cold.” Toni hunched her shoulders up expressively.

Steve shook his head. “If this guy cleansed the murder scenes in order to keep us from finding him, that would make sense, right?”

Toni nodded. “It would. But I’d rather find out the truth for sure.”

“Right. Recognize this one?”

Toni made her way over to the newly uncovered portion of a Circle and studied it. “It’s a Summons, kind of like what I used to Call Jarvis back when I was in school. Problem is, it’s too big.”

“Or this Beastly One was summoning something big, making it just the right size?” Steve suggested.

Toni winced. “I really don’t want this giant daemon running about in these woods, thanks. The ones that end up becoming Familiars can be difficult enough if the Witch in question doesn’t know what he or she is doing.”

“That didn’t go wrong with you, though?”

“Not at all,” Jarvis answered for her. He pawed at the Circle’s writing. “Mistress, there is no Binding sigil at all in this.”

“You sure about that?” Toni frowned, crouching down next to them.

“Positive. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to enter. This is veritably an open doorway.”

Toni grabbed Steve’s shoulder and pulled him along with her as she and Jarvis backed away.

“What? What’s the big deal?”

“Steve, that is an open Gast Duru, literally the kind of door that the really unsavory types of Spirits can walk through. You do _not_  want to be standing near it.” Toni licked her finger and used her other hand to jerk Steve’s chin so that he was facing her, then used her wet finger to trace a sigil on his forehead. He squawked in surprise and probably disgust. “Oh, quiet. If you’d just let me tattoo you with a protection spell, you wouldn’t have to deal with this.”

“I didn’t ask for protection!”

“Fine, you’d rather be possessed by a nonhuman entity? Be my guest.” Toni glared at him, and he wilted.

“Sorry, okay, thank you for that,” he muttered. He glanced at the Duru and gripped his sidearm reflexively. “Can you… I dunno, shut it?”

Toni let out a horrified squeak. “Oh, fuck no! As much as I’d love to, I absolutely can’t! Steve, this confirms that the Beastly One called up something big and nasty. If I shut it and that thing’s still here, we’d have to reconstruct the Circle exactly to send it back through and seal it in.”

“Let me guess, that would be really hard and involve too much painstaking research.”

“Got it in one.” Toni shook out her skirt and surveyed the area again, even more alert than before. "There are several levels of nonhuman entities and several classifications, and all of them must be spelled out in sigils for a Summoning."

Steve muttered a mild cuss under his breath. "So what do we do?"

"Sabbat is soon," Toni answered. "The coven - well, any Witch worth his or her salt alone - could Call whatever came through and then Banish it, and then it's a matter of closing the Duru."

"Why wait until your Sabbath?"

Toni sighed. "Well, the Sabbats happen on full moons. The Eye of the Goddess is fully opened and gazing upon the Earth. Under Her watchful gaze, no unclean spirits can hide. So basically, it works better."

"Even on a cloudy night?" Steve asked, then shook his head. "Wait. Thor and Jane."

"Exactly. You're catching on." Toni smiled at him. "We can find the Beastly One and his slimy friend, get rid of them, and then cleanse this place once they're gone."

"I like this plan." Steve grinned back at her. "So why is the Beastly One murdering people?"

"No idea." Toni scooped up Jarvis again and shrugged. "Maybe it's the outsider, the one who perverted the Craft. Maybe he introduced it."

"See, I thought blood sacrifice wasn't actually done by devil worshippers and the like?"

"It really depends; a lot of Old World magick utilized it." Toni shuddered. "Never been a fan of it myself."

"Well, that's good to know," Steve said.

"You didn't actually think I did _blood magick_ , did you?"

"Never crossed my mind, but it's nice to know for sure." He smiled at her and whatever indignation she'd felt sputtered out.

Damn that smile.

She sighed and scrubbed at her bangs, pushing them off her forehead. "We've learned everything we can here. Whoever this Beastly One is, they've hidden themselves well."

"Lovely," Steve said under his breath. "What can you do about the possible daemon running around?"

"The coven Familiars are still on the lookout," Toni answered. "Jarvis?"

"Of course, Mistress." Jarvis dropped from her arms into the brush and hightailed it out of there to spread the word.

"Yep." She tugged Steve's arm and led him away from the empty, eerie Workplace. "So. Um. Can you drop me off at the manor? I'm probably later than Happy expected."

"Sure." Steve squeezed her hand and smiled that affable, wholesome smile again. "Thanks for helping us today, even at your own risk and all."

Toni blushed. "Oh Steve, that's my duty. I'd do it even without you asking."

"Yeah, I sure do sleep easier at night knowing that you're in town." Steve steadied her when she nearly tripped over a protruding root, and she ducked her head to fight down the blush.

"I really hope I'm wrong," Toni said after a long pause as they trekked through the woods. "About there being more victims."

"I'm willing to bet everyone is already being very cautious after these deaths." Steve looked ahead to the path. "Whoever is doing this is going to get caught." He sounded so sure of himself that Toni half-believed him.

Still, she couldn't shake the feeling in her gut that the worst was yet to come, no matter how dedicated Steve and the CPD were.

 

Steve turned the motorcycle up the long driveway to Carbonell Manor and Toni was surprised to see Greg's rental parked out front.

“Aw, _Carillon d’inferno,_ ” she said as she climbed off the bike, handing Steve his spare helmet. “Rhodey was using my Workplace today.”

“That’s a bad thing?” Steve asked, eyeing the extra car. “Whose car is that?”

“Greg’s. Yes, it’s a bad thing.” Toni sighed. “Well, you’re about to meet one of my remaining living relatives.”

“I take it that Rhodey and Greg don’t get along?” Steve said as they trooped their way up the steps to the porch. The Manor was an odd Victorian mansion, massive and square, with a front entrance that was situated in the southwest corner of the ground floor and a nice wraparound porch. Toni had fallen in love with the Manor when she’d first laid eyes upon it pictured in Maria’s old photographs. Her mother and Maria's twin Magdalena - Wanda and Pietro’s mother - had grown up here. The mansion had been left to the eldest of the Witch children, but Toni had opened the house to her cousins - not that they’d take it, considering their determination to survive on their own. She often found herself wishing they would, as living all by herself in the house got awfully lonely, even with Jarvis to keep her company. There were six bedrooms - seven, if you counted the attic - and more than enough room for a growing family. And since Toni wasn’t going to be having kids anytime soon, it only made sense that Billy and Tommy deserved a big house to grow up in and a room each to himself.

Right then, thinking of Wanda’s boys, she was immensely grateful that they both had been born Witches.

“Yeah, Greg has always been really… unhappy around Witches,” Toni said, fake-casually. “Rhodey’s parents were old friends of my mother’s, from their Academy days, so Rhodey was around before I was born.”

“So he knew Greg,” Steve said, piecing it together.

“Yep.” Toni popped the “p” and leaned back against the porch railing. “I’m… I’d brace yourself for a lot of pettiness and uncomfortable silences.”

“That bad, huh?”

Before Toni could respond, the door suddenly swung open.

“Oh, thank the stars and Spirits, you’re back,” Pepper said, looking harried.

“That bad,” Toni muttered to Steve, who looked shocked at seeing Pepper anything but immaculate and composed.

“He just... _showed up_ ,” Pepper said quietly as Hera fluttered over her head, frenzied in the same manner as her Mistress. “He just… what was I supposed to do??”

“Mind your manners?” Toni suggested. “Which you probably did.”

“He wanted to see the house. I… I only showed him the regular parts. Toni, what if he asks to stay here?”

“This house was willed to me,” Toni said, grabbing Pepper’s shoulder and forcing her to stop. “Breathe. He’s not going to want to stick around in a house full of Witchcraft.”

Pepper took a shaky breath. “I guess you’re right.”

“Antoinette?” her brother called from the kitchen. “Is that you? Are you home?”

Pepper’s green eyes flickered with anxiety, and Toni gently shook her shoulder. “Hey,” Toni said quietly. “Go out to the greenhouse. I’ll handle my brother.”

Pepper nodded her thanks and beckoned to Hera, bustling away.

“I take it Pepper doesn’t like him much either?” Steve said, having watched the exchange in silence.

“She hasn’t forgiven Greg for something he did almost two decades ago.” Toni shrugged. “We were both kids, it’s been a long time.”

Steve nodded, eyebrows raised. “If you say so.”

“You don’t have to stick around,” Toni told him. “I know you’re itching to get back to the station.”

“Maybe I should grab Peggy some dinner from Miriam Fry’s…” his eyes twinkled as Toni swelled up in indignation.

“You might as well be feeding her birdseed! I’ll make something, you heathen!”

“Two nights of Toni Stark’s cooking in a row?” Steve shook his head, grinning. “Ma’s going to be so proud of me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Toni asked over her shoulder as they headed into the kitchen.

“Well, she’s been on me about not eating enough as it is…”

“Rightfully so, in my opinion,” Toni sniffed. She caught sight of her brother, sitting at the scarred kitchen table as if he had done it his whole life, and stopped short.

Greg looked up from whatever he was reading and blinked. “Antoinette. I did not realize you had a guest.” He rose from his seat, pushing the chair back and making it skid across the hardwood floor.

“Uh,” Toni said. Before she could say much more than that, Steve crossed the room in a few strides, hand outstretched.

“Hi. Detective Steve Rogers, with the Cravenswood Police Department.” His spine was unusually straight and his shoulders were squared, borderline military posture, and he and Greg shook hands.

“Is my sister in trouble with the local authorities?” Greg asked, amused. “Yesterday I saw her whisked away by another law enforcement officer, if I’m not mistaken. I saw the police lights for her car.”

Steve laughed. “Oh, Toni’s no trouble at all. In fact, she’s been an invaluable asset to an ongoing investigation. I don’t know what we’d do without her.”

“You two obviously have known each other a while,” Greg commented, retaking his seat.

“It’s a small town,” Toni pointed out, relieved that Steve had managed to get things going smoothly. “Everyone knows each other here.”

“How quaint,” Greg said, smiling. He looked uncannily like Howard. “Such a huge difference from the big city.”

“I imagine,” Steve answered benignly, still at semi-parade rest.

Toni gestured at him. “Steve, go ahead and take a seat. I’ll get started on dinner - let Peggy know there’s some in it for her.” She waved at the fridge door, which popped open by itself. “How does cannelloni sound?”

“That sounds amazing. I think Peggy’s going to try and do you a favor once she finds out,” Steve laughed as he pulled out his cell phone.

As Steve talked to Peggy - and indeed, Toni could hear Peggy's reaction from across the kitchen - Toni mentally went over the list of Steve’s allergies, mild to severe, and rearranged the ingredients to avoid any trouble. “So Greg, how’s your vacation treating you?”

“Wonderfully, actually,” Greg replied, his tone genial. “Mother spoke so fondly of Cravenswood that I was afraid it wouldn’t live up to her stories.”

“I’m glad you like our town,” Steve said, hanging up as Toni preheated the oven. She was using magick as a shortcut, to get the food cooked as quickly as possible so Steve and Peggy could eat and get back to work on the case. She quickly began preparing the cannellonis’ fillings, various cheeses and herbs plus chopped veal and pork from the local butcher.

“You’re still cooking,” Greg said, surprised.

Toni looked up at him, confused. “Why would I give it up?”

“Honestly, I don’t know why I ever thought you would.” Greg stared at the knife in her hand, his gaze distant and almost empty. “You were always so like Maria…”

“I know for a fact that half the department on duty is going to be salivating like dogs when I walk in with those,” Steve said, breaking the tension. “Toni’s cooking is pretty well-loved.”

“Culinary Craft,” Toni said weakly, going back to mincing the herbs.

“Indeed,” Greg agreed, and Toni felt her shoulders relax for the first time since she’d caught sight of his car in the driveway.

Toni looked up and saw that Steve’s eyes were on her. She made a face at him, and he shrugged at her.

"So--" she started to say, only to be interrupted by a loud crash and Pepper's scream from the conservatory.

She dropped the knife and they all scrambled in the direction of the noise. A loud thumping from the stairwell heralded Rhodey and Ares's charge upstairs, and the five of them burst into the conservatory, Ares having shifted into his snarling daemonic Hellhound form in anticipation of a fight.

Pepper was in her Working Circle, and Hera had changed forms as well, into a massive Phoenix whose four wings were more than enough to shelter her Mistress from the fallen glass that had scattered across the floor.

"What in the Seven Hells?" Rhodey said as Toni and Steve made their way to the shattered window.

"I don't... I was just Working and then something came through there--" Pepper pointed a shaking hand at the window.

"Dismiss the Circle, Pep," Rhodey urged her, and she nodded, still pale, and cut the Circle with her left hand.

Rhodey swept in and helped her make her way to the doorway, away from all the glass, just as Happy barreled in from the garage, bellowing for his wife.

While Rhodey and Happy consoled Pepper, Steve called the precinct to report the vandalism as Toni stared, unnerved, at the broken window.

"I found it," Greg announced from the other side of the room. He pushed a few flower pots aside to reveal a good-sized rock that appeared to have a note rubber-banded to it.

"Don't touch it!" Steve ordered. "I've got uniformed officers on the way. We'll have to process the scene."

" _Carillon d’inferno,_ " Toni said faintly. "I have a bad feeling--"

"No," Steve cut her off. "Don't dwell. Go back into the kitchen, you two. I'm going to stay in here until the officers arrive."

"Come, Antoinette," Greg said, taking her arm. "Let's leave Detective Rogers to his work."

She sighed but allowed her brother to lead her back into the manor proper as Steve knelt down to examine the rock that had shattered her conservatory window.

 

Within a few minutes, the CPD had arrived, bearing four officers and a concerned Detective Carter.

Natasha sat Pepper down in the parlor and gently coaxed a statement out of her as Happy and Rhodey, along with Officers Luke Cage and Misty Knight, combed the manor grounds in order to find a clue as to who had thrown the rock. Krzeminski was left to take the photos of the scene for documentation, which he was clearly sour about, as Peggy took down the remaining statements, having already spoken to Rhodey and Happy.

"This is troubling," she eventually said, her exhaustion showing on her face. "Could the killer have done this as a warning?"

"It's possible, but I doubt it," Steve responded, his eyes on the abandoned cannelloni. "It’s most likely someone else. This doesn’t fit with what else the killer has done."

" _Carillon d’inferno!_ " Toni groaned.

"Killer?" Greg repeated, his eyebrows hovering near his hairline. "Has there been a murder?"

"Where have you been?" Peggy asked wearily. "It's all over town and you're staying with one of the town hubs for gossip!"

"I have been busy," Greg said mildly. "As you probably know, we Starks cannot abide not working or really sitting still, even on vacation."

Both Steve and Peggy's heads swiveled to stare at Toni, who pinked slightly. "It's in our blood," she sputtered, making Steve smirk and Peggy roll her eyes.

"In any case, it is quite unsettling to think that a murderer may be loose." Greg frowned. "I'd best be getting back to the Parkers', I think. I would love to catch up some other time, perhaps when things have died down a bit."

"Of course," Toni agreed, nodding tiredly. "I'll probably see you around town anyway." She was about to get up and escort Greg to the door when Krzeminski strode back in, camera under arm and tossing the rock in one hand.

"Photos're done," he said loudly, handing the camera to Peggy. "Hey Stark, I'd tell you that you have a secret admirer, but then I'd be lying." He set the rock down on the counter in front of Toni with a heavy _thunk_.

"Krzeminski," Peggy said warning, but he ignored her, withdrew a folded up piece of paper from his pocket, and handed it to Toni, who unfolded it.

She scanned the typed note and let out a despairing noise. "Oh,  _carillon **d’inferno**!_ " She set the note on the counter and they all craned to read it.

 _BITCH Satan worshiper!!!!!!!_  it said,  _stop killing us or your next!!!!!!_


	6. Chapter 6

It took over an hour to convince Steve and Peggy - and, to her surprise, Greg - to leave.

It took nearly an hour and forty-five minutes to convince Happy and Pepper.

Rhodey refused to be convinced, and soon Toni was flooded with Astrals and Familiars bearing similar sentiments.

It got so out-of-hand ("How is our wanting to stick around out-of-hand, Toni, we're concerned about your _safety!_ ") that Toni only managed to drive everyone else off by consenting to have a patrol officer stationed outside on the street to keep an eye out.

“You don’t have to stick around, you know,” she grumbled to Rhodey, who rolled his eyes at her.

“Yeah, sure, I’ll go home and let some nutjob come and finish you off in the middle of the night.”

Ares snorted at his side.

“Streghe Rhodes has a point,” Jarvis offered, having returned in the midst of the chaos. He looked up at her with big, innocent eyes. “We do not know who may bear ill intent towards you.”

“Yet,” Toni muttered. She glared at the lot of them. “Rhodey, you and Ares can crash in your regular room. Jarvis, c’mon.” She grabbed her shawl off of the bannister, where she’d left it that morning, and made for the basement.

“Excuse me, what are you doing?” Rhodey blocked her, and she let out a whine unbefitting of the Head Witch of a coven. “You are exhausted, the last thing you need to do is Work.”

“On the contrary, this kind of thing doesn’t tend to wait for me to be well rested, now does it?” Toni tried to duck under his outstretched arms, but he knew her too well and caught her at the waist.

“ _Carillon d’inferno,_  Jim!” Toni yelped. “I’m going to Scry for the vandal, okay?”

“Don’t you need a piece of the person to Scry for them?” Ares asked pointedly.

Jim groaned and pushed her away, holding out a hand once she was properly distanced from the basement door. “Give me the rock, Toni.”

Toni sneered at him, but pulled the bagged stone that had shattered her window (she’d nicked it and the note before Steve and Peggy had departed) from her pocket and slapped it into his palm. “Happy?”

“Ecstatic. Now, go change into your jammies and climb into bed.”

“Ha. No.” Toni crossed her arms, and Rhodey followed suit. A staring contest ensued, neither Witch even blinking.

“What else are you going to be doing if not sleeping?” Rhodey finally demanded.

“Tracking the Beastly One. I caught his scent earlier in his Workplace.” Toni lifted her chin and squared her shoulders, causing her curly hair to tumble down her back.

Rhodey looked at her with narrowed eyes. “But we’re not sure he’s the killer.”

“Well, the killer hasn’t left any trace evidence at any crime scenes,” Toni pointed out. “So, the Beastly One is the best we’ve got.”

Rhodey raised his eyebrows. “That makes me think he _isn’t_  the perp we’re looking for.”

Damn the man for making sense. “Rhodey, who else is working borderline diabolical ritual magick in Cravenswood?”

“There are two individuals that we know of,” Rhodey said, and Toni glared at him.

“Streghe Rhodes,” Jarvis spoke up primly, swishing his tail. “Mistress still has a point as well. Even if she cannot locate the identity of the vandal, all effort should be put towards finding the murderer in our midst. The presence of diabolical magick is most troubling, even to us daemons.”

Rhodey looked to Ares, who nodded gravely. He sighed. “I’m still set up down there. Let me help you if I can’t persuade you to get some sleep.”

Toni smiled at him. “I’d appreciate it.”

Hours later, as they approached the wrong side of midnight, Rhodey sat back on his stool and sighed loudly in frustration. “Well, this is a dead end,” he said, glaring at the rock and the note - they had been forced to employ gentler Scrying methods in order to keep both objects intact and mostly unaffected, to preserve them as evidence, and even with Rhodey’s determination and blunt force Power married to Toni’s skill and vast ritual knowledge, they had been unable to discern the writer of the note and the thrower of the rock. “Why couldn’t they have just done the old ‘cut-and-paste letters from magazines’ method? At least then we’d have something more personal to work with!”

“Laser printers are available at every major office, library, and school in the county,” Toni pointed out. “They’re more easily accessible and less time consuming.” Of course, she privately agreed with Rhodey - even if she had an odd affinity with technology, she had been unable to trace the intent of the writer past the printer that had spat it out - located at the Cravenswood Public Library, and operating for free in the computer lab. Intent was a tricky thing to trace, and that was without the added anonymity of technology. When the rock hadn’t yielded results - they had determined that it was from her own property - the note had been their last resource.

“What about the Beastly One?” Rhodey asked. Since she had experienced the aura of the Workplace, Toni had to be the one who translated it into the Scrying. It helped that she had been able to find the “words” to describe it.

“I’m getting something,” Toni answered, not at all triumphantly. “It’s difficult to discern it. I don’t think it comes from the out-of-towner with the perverted Craft. It doesn’t feel like any Craft I’ve ever known.”

“How would you know?”

Toni shrugged. “Even perverted, Craft is still Craft. All Witches are taught discipline and Working methods, and I know the signatures of most of them. There’s a signature here, but I don’t recognize it; this practitioner seems to prefer working wholly from scratch.” She hesitated, then plunged on. “The thing is, I can’t sense any blood magick. I mean, at all. Not even animal sacrifice.”

Rhodey’s eyebrows went up. “So…?”

Toni sighed. “So it’s very possible that this Beastly One isn’t the killer.”

“Which leaves us the other suspect. What if part of the Craft perversion is leaving the Workplace unnaturally cleansed?” Rhodey snapped his fingers in a _Eureka!_  gesture.

Toni stared at her Scrying stones. “That would make some sense, I suppose,” she admitted.

Rhodey put his chin into his hand, braced on the Worktable. “Your gut tells you otherwise?”

“I don’t know what to think,” Toni answered. “I’m kind of scared, to be honest.”

“Hey, nothing wrong with that,” Rhodey said instantly. “We’re up against something we’ve never seen before, a little fear is natural.”

“I have to be strong, though,” Toni insisted. She waved her fingers over the stones, banishing the Power she’d invoked, and gathered them into their velvet sack. “I’m the leader of this coven--”

“You’re also a human being,” Rhodey pointed out. “A human being with survival instincts. Toni, no one is expecting you to be a superhero.”

Toni’s shoulders slumped. “I think we’ve done all we can do for the night,” she finally said, and was immensely grateful when Rhodey dropped the subject and helped her cut their Circle and consecrate the space for the next use.

“Right, I’m beat,” he said as he and Ares emerged from the basement stairwell. They made a beeline for the grand staircase that led to the second floor, and Toni followed at a more sedate pace, rolling her shoulders and cracking her neck to work out the kinks.

Jarvis was walking in front of her when he stopped suddenly, making her nearly trip over him, and looked at the front door. “Mistress, someone approaches.”

“What?” Rhodey started back down the stairs as their midnight visitor pounded on the door.

Toni flicked her wrist, and the knife she’d sheathed up her loose sleeves fell into her palm. She slowly approached the door, getting a good grip on the handle. “Who is it?” she called.

“Officer Krzeminski,” a familiar voice boomed.

Toni sighed and wilted in relief, and Rhodey made a face. She opened the door to the scowling CPD officer. “Why are you knocking at my door at midnight?” she demanded, slightly annoyed.

Krzeminski glared at her. “Hey, the least you could do is be grateful,” he grumbled. “I only got about four hours of sleep so I could relieve Officer Lee to stand guard outside your haunted mansion.”

“Which I am immensely grateful for, so you can stop looking so sour,” she said curtly. That only earned her an even bigger scowl, so she sighed again. “Look, Ray, I appreciate that the CPD has stationed a guard outside, but this is only going to be for one night. I doubt that it will go any further.”

Krzeminski shrugged. “Whatever. I’m getting paid overtime anyway.” Without so much as a goodbye, he turned and stalked down the steps to the waiting patrol car, grumbling the whole way.

“Officer Friendly to the rescue,” Rhodey commented sardonically.

“What a delightfully sour knight,” Ares added.

Krzeminski heard and turned to flip the bird at them.

“Lovely,” Toni said, and shut the door.

_The lawn and woods were quiet, and not even the slightest breeze ruffled the leaves on the trees. It was too silent, too still. The sky was completely dark, not even the weakest moonlight straining through, and the air felt heavy and thick._

_Toni made her way through the overgrown grass, her skirts catching on the random tufts and tugging back, only to snap back and softly hit her ankles. Her progress was slow-going, but her destination was undeniable._

_Craven’s Woods loomed up in front of her, dark and forbidding. She had absolutely no desire to enter, but it almost felt like she_  had  _to…_

_She forced herself to stop at the edge of the treeline, the fringe of the forest._

**Antoinette…**

_She shivered at her name whispered on the wind, the very sound of it_  wrong  _and alien._

_“Who are you?” she demanded. “What do you want?”_

_The trees suddenly began to thrash violently, like a sudden burst of wind had caught their branches, and then a root erupted from the ground and wrapped around her ankle._

_She screamed and pitched backwards as it yanked, and she frantically scrambled onto her belly, clawing at the grass and trying to find a handhold as another vine-like root got her other foot._

_“Help me!” she shrieked, but no one answered. “No! I don’t want--”_

The sound of pounding on the front door jerked her out of her nightmare, and for a second she was confused, trying to calm her racing heart. Then the knocking came again, this time more insistent. Toni scrambled out of her bed and threw a dressing gown on over her Siouxie Sioux t-shirt as she hurried out of her bedroom, passing by Rhodey as he emerged from the guestroom.

She gracelessly descended the stairs, Jarvis at her heels, and skidded to a stop in the foyer. “Who is it?” she said loudly.

“Open the door, Stark!”

Toni winced when she recognized Detective Jack Thompson’s voice and yanked the door open. “Thompson, what are you doing here?”

“My job,” Thompson said in a dangerously silky tone. “Tell me, Stark, when was the last time you saw Officer Ray Krzeminski?”

Toni blinked as something cold and spiky settled in her stomach. “Around midnight. Why?”

“Because he was supposed to report back to the department an hour ago, and his patrol car is still sitting by your curb.” Thompson narrowed his eyes at her. “Stranger still, the keys are in the ignition, the driver’s side door is open, and there’s a cold cup of coffee spilled on the street.”

Rhodey was suddenly at her side. “Detective, I can vouch for her. We both went to bed right after Krzeminski let us know he was here.”

“Yeah, of course you can vouch for her,” Thompson sneered. “And I’m sure she can vouch for you likewise. As it is, you two are the last people to see him.”

“For the love of--” Toni fought down the urge to scream. “Thompson, you know damn well I wouldn’t harm anyone! I’ve been working with you for a decade!”

“Yeah, and yet you can’t figure out who is killing civilians, strangely,” the detective snapped. “I don’t know about Rogers and Carter, but that’s kinda suspicious to me.”

“How _dare_  you--” Rhodey growled.

“Keep quiet,” Thompson interrupted him. “You’re not removed from suspicion either, _Witch_.”

Toni stared at him, horrified. “Jack,” she said feebly. “I wouldn’t.”

“See, I don’t even know if I can believe that anymore,” Thompson said in that horrible, silky tone, and then turned on his heel and returned to Krzeminski’s car, which had been taped off as a precaution as more uniformed officers milled about, looking for some clue as to what had snatched one of their own away into the night.

“Toni,” Rhodey said, sounding about as shocked as she was. “Toni, don--”

“Don’t what, Jim? Take him seriously?” Toni demanded, horrified at how brokenly it came out. “How can I not, Rhodey? We’re _suspects!_ ”

“They can’t declare Krzeminski missing after a couple of hours. He could have run off to investigate something,” Rhodey pointed out. “Or else he decided to ditch and fuck off, and maybe make you look bad?”

“He wouldn’t, though,” Toni answered. “He actually likes his job, and he likes it more than he does harassing me.”

Rhodey put a hand on her shoulder and gently tugged her away, kicking the door shut. “C’mon,” he said. “Call Steve and get him out of bed. He’ll be on your side, at least.”

Toni resisted him, staring at him with wide eyes. “What is happening here, Rhodey?” she whispered. “What’s going on in this town?”

Rhodey looked at her sadly, and sighed heavily. “I don’t know, Tones. I really don’t know.”

Steve arrived with Peggy in tow within ten minutes of Toni calling him. Peggy stayed outside to have a shouting match with Thompson while Steve and Rhodey convinced Toni to eat some breakfast and down some coffee.

“Wow, I can hear her all the way from here,” Rhodey commented. He glanced at Steve approvingly. “You dated her for how long?”

“Throughout college,” Steve grinned. “She could match me in stubbornness any day.”

“That’s a very rare thing indeed,” Ares said pointedly.

Toni glared at Rhodey’s familiar, and then glared at Rhodey for cracking up about it. “You two are combined a menace,” she muttered, not caring that her grammar was atrocious.

_Grammar._

She suddenly was seized with a thought and shot to her feet, dashed down to her Worktable, and grabbed the vandal’s note, running back upstairs in triumph. “It was a kid!”

“What?” everyone else said in unison, all completely confused.

“Look at this note!” She smoothed it out on the counter, ignoring Steve’s noise of “hey, why do you still have that” and pointing to the words on the paper. “Look at it! Look at how horribly it’s formatted. Look at the atrocious grammar! They used the wrong word for ‘you’re’ and about a billion exclamation points. What does that tell you?”

Rhodey looked absolutely lost, but Steve’s eyes widened. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” he said. “A kid _did_  write this.”

“What?” Rhodey stared at him. “How can you tell?”

“The formatting,” Steve said, echoing Toni. “Besides, I think I know who did it.” He closed his eyes and looked very cross with himself. “A few months ago, we had a dispute between two neighbors, and one of the family’s kids threw a rock with a note through the other neighbor’s window.”

“With a note attached?” Toni guessed.

“Yep.” Steve looked over the note again. “Looks like I’m going to have to give the Sharpes another visit.”

“Damien Sharpe?” Peggy repeated, blinking. She’d managed to chase off Thompson and his goons, so Steve had filled her in. “That little brat caused hundreds of dollars worth of damage to Patsy Walker’s house.”

“Well, that does it,” Toni said, and Peggy sighed.

“Damn it all, but the Sharpe family belongs to Stryker’s church,” she said.

Toni swore a blue streak in Veritan and pounded a fist down on her counter.

Reverend Stryker had established his church at the outskirts of Cravenswood only four years ago, and had attracted quite a sizable flock (no one had thought he'd ever get a congregation larger than ten.) Toni suspected it had something to do with the fear of Witches that quite a few older citizens still clung to. In any case, he had been one of her most outspoken critics ever since he’d set up shop in town, and Toni and Matt Murdock - who was Pastor of the local Catholic church - had been having trouble with him and his radical, cultish brand of faith. He happily took verbal potshots at both Cravenswood United Catholic Church and the coven every chance he got, and even encouraged boycotts of Witch businesses in town, proclaiming their magick the work of the Devil.

Of course, Toni and her fellow Witches didn’t believe in the Devil as Christians did, and similarly believed there was no such thing as the Catholic Hell (the Seven Hells were a different matter.) But it wasn’t like they could explain that to Stryker and his loyal flock. They were still outnumbered five-to-one by the town Catholics alone, but they managed to be vocal and venomous to make up for it.

“That certainly explains the bit about ‘Satan worshipper’,” Steve said tiredly. Stryker had spared him no grief about being transgender. He rubbed at his forehead. “Well, we’d better catch them before Damien disappears off to school.”

“Steve--” Toni grabbed his arm. “Steve, this doesn’t help with Krzeminski’s disappearance--”

“Knowing Ray Krzeminski, he probably ran off to chase down a random prowler or something equally reasonable,” Peggy said. “He may be a tactless dolt, but he’s a good officer.”

“But it doesn’t change the fact that the department suspects me, and you know how it is to belong to the police family,” Toni pointed out. “Thompson as good as said he always suspected we were up to something. How long has that been festering in him and his friends on the force?”

“If they’re good men and professionals, they’ll disregard those suspicions. How long have we worked together to keep this town and its people safe?” Steve asked pointedly.

“But even with that, it’s still not enough to push aside that kind of prejudice--”

“Toni,” Peggy said kindly. “We will clear your name. We _know_  you and Rhodey weren’t involved. We’ll find the true culprits.”

Toni looked at them both, her face betraying her feelings. “I… I appreciate it, but I don’t think it will be enough.”

“Toni,” Steve said, his voice firm. “Don’t go down that road. We’ll be fine.”

“We will be,” Rhodey said in agreement.

Toni closed her eyes and wished desperately that she could believe them.

The detectives departed with the rock and the note, and Rhodey waited until Pepper and Happy showed up for the day so he could run to his house and grab a change of clothes, then come right back. The mulish looks her friends gave her were dripping with a "just _try_  to leave" vibe, so Toni drifted back upstairs to take a nap that she would never admit she needed. She fell into a fitful sleep with Jarvis curled protectively on her chest.

Pepper woke her up around noon and talked her into eating some of her homemade soup, having instinctively known Toni had been in a near-constant state of freezing thanks to her and Rhodey's marathon of Craftwork the previous night. When they reached the kitchen, Toni saw that Carol and Jan had joined them for lunch.

"Toni, you look awful!" Jan said immediately.

Carol burst into laughter as Toni leveled a dry glare at Jan. "Thanks."

"No, I mean your aura!" Jan corrected herself. She waved a hand over Toni's forehead, frowning. "It looks almost... dirty."

"Could be the residue of the Beastly One or his slimy friend," Rhodey said mildly.

"Oh. Ugh. That's gotta be why I feel so disgusting." Toni massaged her temples. "I can cleanse tonight."

"You do that," Jan said firmly. "It can't be healthy, having that sort of negative energy all over you."

"So you still haven't found out who the Beastly One is yet?" Hestia asked, perched on Jan's shoulder.

Toni shook her head and Rhodey grumbled.

Pepper stirred the soup in the pot, her expression unreadable. "This is making me very nervous."

"It's making us all nervous, dear," Jan said. She squinted at the strained sunlight coming through the windows and snapped her fingers. "You know what, I don't like this mood settling over us." She quickly conjured up her sparkly little Witchlights, which spread like stars over the ceiling. "Carol, do yours!"

Carol grinned and added her own bright sunbursts to the mix. "That's better. Why you three don't use Witchlights is beyond me."

"Mine comes out cold blue," Toni said, closing her eyes and basking in the warm glow. "It doesn't feel this nice."

"Can't cast Witchlights worth a damn," Rhodey added, handing Pepper some bowls from the pantry.

Pepper snorted. "Mine die out too quickly."

"What? Really?" Jan blinked, then smiled coyly. "Maybe you focus too much on your botany."

"Bite your tongue," Pepper replied good-naturedly. "It's entirely due to my botany that this soup exists."

"Hear hear!" Happy chimed in, cheerfully ladling himself a huge bowl's worth.

"He obviously knows what's good for him," Carol's Familiar, the white barn owl Apollo, teased.

Happy made a face at him. "Hey, if you could eat vegetables, you'd understand." He shook his head in fake pity.

Toni felt a real laugh bubble up through her chest for the first time in what felt like months. She accepted her soup from Pepper and settled in to listen to coven gossip.

They were all just finishing up when a sharp rapping sounded on the front door.

Happy pushed Toni back down onto her stool and strode into the foyer to answer it.

"For the love of--" Toni started to protest, but Jan shushed her.

They heard Happy say "she's indisposed" and then a shrill woman's voice cutting the silence.

"INDISPOSED MY FOOT, YOU LET ME IN YOU BRUTE, HOW DARE YOU PEOPLE ACCUSE MY SON OF VANDALISM--"

"Ah, _miertè_ ," Carol said, summing up what they were all feeling.

Happy yelled, " _Hey, you can't just come in here,_ " as an enraged woman Toni vaguely recognized as Miriam Sharpe stormed into the kitchen.

"You!" she screamed, jabbing a finger in Toni's direction.

Toni flinched.

In that moment, all the Familiars let out angry noises and moved protectively in between Toni and Mrs. Sharpe.

The woman faltered, afraid, but then found her indignation and swung her glare back up to meet Toni's eyes. "Listen, _Witch_ , I don't know what kind of devilish things you do in here to get these outrageous ideas, but my son was nowhere near this damned place last night!"

"Mrs. Sharpe," Toni said, recovering her composition. "I had nothing to do with Detectives Rogers and Carter's conclusion specifically regarding your son. If you wish to take it up with them, they are most likely at the station."

"I will not be dealing with those sexual deviants anymore!" Mrs. Sharpe snapped.

"That is out of line--" Jan exclaimed, her eyes wide.

Mrs. Sharpe brandished a book that Toni recognized as a Bible at them. "The Lord has no place in His Kingdom for women who think they are men, or women who perform abhorrent actions with other women! And the Good Book sayeth, Thou Shalt Not Suffer A Witch To Live!"

"That is _enough_ ," Toni said coldly, and the Witchlights overhead dimmed and flashed a frigid blue, the same color as the tattoo over Toni's collarbone. The room temperature dropped several degrees, and the Familiars all curled in on themselves.

Out of the corner of her eye, Toni could see that her friends had gone stock still. Over Mrs. Sharpe's shoulder, Happy stared at her with wide eyes.

Toni fought for control over her fury. "You have no right to barge into my home, besmirch my friends, and spout your harmful, disrespectful and frankly _ignorant_  beliefs at me." She stood, and the Witchlights pulsed stronger. "Take your leave. This is not a request."

Mrs. Sharpe glared at her, shuddering with suppressed rage and fear. "You are more powerful than you let us see," she whispered. "Who is to say _you're_  not the one killing our neighbors?"

Toni felt her blood run cold.

" _How dare you!_ " Carol growled.

Jarvis moved into Mrs. Sharpe's field of vision, his back once more arched and his fur puffed out, but still in his regular cat form. That didn't mean he wasn't radiating cold anger. " _Get out,_ " he hissed, and the terrified Cowan woman fled without a backward glance.

"That's it," Toni whispered, her face buried in her hands. "The town is turning on me."

"Don't think like that." Pepper said, squeezing her shoulder.

"Yeah," Carol chimed in grimly. "They're turning on all of us."

Pepper gave Carol a stern look.

"If Stryker has been telling people that we're responsible for these murders, who knows how far it will go?" Toni ground the heels of her palms into her eye sockets.

"Most people in this town know he's a blowhard," Rhodey reassured her. "They'll ignore him."

"Do you not remember the sordid history of Witches versus mass hysteria?" Carol argued. "I don't know about you guys but I think that a great deal of resentment and even full-blown fear has been simmering away in the general populace for some time now." She sighed with a slump of her shoulders. "Toni is right. Stryker might be able to turn everyone against us."

"But we've been a part of this community for a decade!" Jan said, her eyes round with shock. "How could anyone forget that?"

"Remember Salem?" Toni asked dully. "The plague that was caused by a tainted well and fungus was blamed on the town Witches and they ended up hanging anyone they could catch."

"Most of the victims from Salem weren't even Witches, that doesn't count," Jan said, but she sounded unsure.

"Doesn't matter," Carol answered. "Mob mentality took care of rational thought. Once Witches were perceived as a threat, they had to go." She stared out the window at Craven's Woods. "Doesn't help that plenty of people seized on their chance to root out their undesired neighbors and get rid of them without any pesky suspicions of murder. All they had to do was point and the mob did their work for them."

" _Carillon d’inferno,_ " Toni moaned. "Stryker always did want the coven gone. Now he's going to be able to kick us out personally."

Jan was silent, then looked up at them with a strange gleam in her eye. "Hey, what if Stryker is the Beastly One?"

They all stared at her.

"Excuse me?" Pepper asked, making a face.

"No, no, think about it!" Jan insisted. "He gets sick of no one listening to what threats we are so he _manufactures_  one to turn the town against us and drive us out!" She snapped her fingers in a _Eureka!_  gesture.

"One, that is ridiculous," Pepper ticked it off on her fingers. "We are attributing too much thoughtful planning to the good Reverend. Two, it still won't work. We have been here longer than him and we have more roots. We've done more for the community. The town will not turn against us."

"You underestimate the mob mentality and the two-faced nature of humanity," Carol said darkly.

“You’re all a bunch of pessimists,” Pepper snapped in response. She opened her mouth to keep talking, but was interrupted by the shrill ringing of the kitchen phone.

Happy looked at all of them and nudged Toni’s shoulder. “Boss?”

“Just... “ Toni stared at the ringing phone. “It’s Steve.”

“How in the Seven Hells do you know that,” Carol muttered as Toni got up and shuffled to the corded phone mounted on the wall.

She reluctantly lifted the handset from the cradle and put it to her ear. “Yeah, Steve?”

“Toni, the-- how did you know it was me?”

“It’s a gift.” Toni closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Steve, why are you calling my house?”

Steve hesitated, then continued what he’d started to say before, albeit very gingerly. “Toni, I… I wanted to give you a heads up. They--” he cut himself off, and Toni could hear him clearing his throat. “They… found Krzeminski.”

The others in the kitchen were so silent that she knew they were listening in. The tension in the room mounted to a pounding high, and Toni’s entire upper body was shaking. “What else?” she whispered.

Steve sighed. “He… the killer got to him. He’s dead.”


	7. Chapter 7

_Antoinette & Gregory, age four_

  
"Oh my," Mama whispered, as little Antoinette held out the dying swallow that had flown into the nursery wall. "What a poor creature."

Antoinette's hands were shaking as she begged in a scratchy voice, "Mama, can't we do something?"

"Hmmm." Mama stroked a finger down the bird's side, and the little animal suddenly shook, hopping to its feet. It shook its head again and peered at them, cooing.

"I think she will be wiser about looking where she is going," Mama said, guiding Antoinette to the open window and gesturing at the sky beyond.

The swallow took off for freedom, and Antoinette stared at her mother in rapt adoration. Mama's hands were magical ones.

“Mama!”

“Mama! Mama Mama Mama!”

Identical child voices rang through the stately Manhattan manor as little feet pounded up the stairs, towards the front of the house.

Little Gregory, with his cornsilk-blond mop of hair and bright blue eyes, threw open the door to the twins’ mother’s personal Workroom.

Toni suddenly stopped and grabbed her brother’s wrist, tugging him back. “No, Greg, no!” she said, her voice high and thin. “We can’t.”

“Hey!” her brother shouted. “Who’re you?”

Toni shrank against the door, at the curious looks from Mama’s guests.

“Ah, are these your children, Strega Stark?” one of the men asked.

“Yes, they must have escaped Ana's watch,” Mama said, fixing her children with a very serious expression.

“I am so very sorry, Mistress,” Ana said as she slipped in behind the twins, her red furred head ducked in shame.

“It wasn’t Ana's fault!” Greg said loudly, putting his arms around the fox Familiar’s neck.

“Yeah, the ghost lady in the garden came and she won’t go away!” Toni added, finding her nerve even with the eyes of the strange men upon her.

Mama frowned. “Ghost lady?”

“Yes!” both of the twins said at once, as earnestly as their little voices could be.

“Which one of you saw the ghost?” another one of the men asked, peering at them.

Greg’s head swiveled to look at Toni, and she shrank against Ana's side. “I did,” she answered shyly.

“Only one of them?” the third man asked Mama, and Mama gave him such an awful look that Toni and Greg edged away, out the door and into the hallway.

“It is of no consequence,” Mama said, her voice dropping to the same tone that meant she was  getting angry. When Mama got angry, bad things tended to happen.

“Of course it is not,” the man said hastily.

Mama still looked angry, but not as much as before. “Are we finished here?” she asked, in the way that she did when Toni and Greg were bickering about something that she thought was silly.

“For the moment, yes, but Maria…” the first man waved a hand at Mama’s Workroom. “Whatever your Cowan husband may ask of you, remember who your people truly are.”

“Howard may ask of me whatever he wishes,” Mama said quietly. “It would be a mistake to keep up this silly farce of superiority over my Cowan neighbors and friends.”

“Ah, yes,” the third man said, inspecting his nails. “You were raised in one of those old-fashioned Midwestern towns.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Mama crossed her arms.

“Maria, the way that things work here are different from how they are in the country. Surely you are aware of this,” the first man said. “They keep to themselves and we keep to ours, and none of this penny-for-a-spell business.”

“Perhaps that shouldn’t be the norm,” Mama said, her voice getting louder and angry again. “But then again, what do I know? I’m only one Witch whose life is working out quite well for her, thank you very much. Will that be all, Streghe?”

“Yes, we apologize for the intrusion.”

They all palmed dark, round hats and began to head towards the door, and Greg and Toni separated to flatten themselves against either side of the doorway as they passed.

The second man, who was the shortest by far, stopped and turned to face Toni. “So you will be the one to carry on your mother’s legacy.”

Toni gulped.

The man smiled strangely at her and then swiftly moved to join his friends in the hallway, and then Mama was brushing past them. She patted the both of them on the head and murmured, “Stay here with Ana. I will see to the ghost in the garden.”

Both of the twins nodded.

Mama followed the men down the stairs, and they soon heard the front door open.

“Ana, who were they?” Greg asked, entirely too curious for Toni’s liking.

“They are members of the Shadow Council of Witches,” Ana answered, herding them into the nursery. “They often ask your Mama for help with healing.”

Greg tilted his head. “Is she good at it?”

“Very. One of the best.”

Toni sat down against the nursery wall and curled up. “Why were they looking at me?”

“Oh, _bambina_ ,” Ana nosed her shoulder, and let Toni bury her face in her fur. “They’re just silly old men who care more for silly old man sorts of things.”

“How come they only talked to Toni?” Greg asked, sitting on Ana's other side.

“They’re just silly old men,” Ana repeated. “They don’t know anything about the either of you.”

“They want something from me,” Toni whispered. “Just like they want something from Mama.”

“No, they do not,” Ana said firmly. “They are fools, that’s what they are.”

“Mama doesn’t like them,” Greg observed, running his hands down Ana's side. “She was gonna yell at them.”

“She wanted to,” Toni said. “But she couldn’t, because then they would be angry.”

“Don’t worry about your Mama,” Ana told them. “She has been doing this for a long time. She will be fine.”

Downstairs, the front door slammed and the sound of Mama’s footsteps thumped towards them. She eventually appeared in the nursery doorway, and she crouched down next to them, her skirts pooling gracefully around her. “I’m sorry you had to see all of that.”

“Why was there a ghost in the garden?” Greg asked. “What did she look like?”

“She was a very young girl who had a very sad life and a very sad death,” Mama answered, drawing Greg into her lap. “She just needed someone to talk to, and to care.”

“Why couldn’t I see her, Mama?” Greg asked, and for once he wasn’t curious but instead disappointed.

“Maybe you don’t see Spirits as well, _me bambino_ ,” Mama stroked his hair. “You are still young yet.”

“But Toni already has Power!” Greg pointed out. “And we’re twins!”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Mama said. “My twin sister and I developed at different paces.”

Toni closed her eyes, her face still pressed into Ana's fur. She knew that Greg would never be able to chase away fear of the dark with a fistful of sparks or convince birds to land on his finger like she could. And she wanted to cry, knowing this. She and Greg shared _everything_.

But for as long as she could remember, Greg had been the only one of the two of them who was able to cry. When Mama took them to the beach, he had struggled to stay afloat while Toni and Mama had easily bobbed at the surface of the water. And today he hadn’t been able to see the ghost girl standing right in front of them, real as anyone else.

Toni dreaded the day that they began to grow apart. And she didn’t know how she knew that it would happen, but it was like a ticking clock in her stomach. She didn’t know if she could bear when it happened.

So she clung to Ana as the daemon whispered soothing things in her ear and Mama talked to Greg in a sing-song voice, and she tried to forget about the way that the Shadow Council men had looked at her in Mama’s Workroom.  
  


“Come away from there!” Greg pleaded, but Toni didn’t listen. Instead, she plastered herself against the glass of the window and pressed her cheek to it so that when she breathed out, the mist of her breath traveled up to her eyes.

“Look, Greg,” she gasped as another fork of lightning arced across the black sky. “It’s so pretty…”

“It’s scary!” Greg protested, burrowing under his covers. “What if it hits you?”

“It won’t,” Toni reassured him brightly. “Just come and look once!”

“No!” Greg said instantly, shaking his head furiously and making the blankets quiver.

Toni blew a raspberry at him and climbed down from the window seat. “We’re not babies anymore, Greg.”

“It’s not wrong to be scared of something dangerous!” Greg shot back at her. He pouted and clutched his blankets tighter to himself. “I’ve seen what lightning can do to people.”

“How?” Toni wrinkled her nose.

“It’s in the books in Father’s study.”

Toni stared at him. “How did you get into Father’s study?”

“He took me in,” Greg said in a surly voice. “Said he wanted to start preparing me to take his place.”

Toni felt a deep, overwhelming sadness blossoming in her chest and, subdued, she climbed back into her own bed and settled on the pillow.

Outside, the thunder crashed and the windowpane shook, and Greg whimpered across the room. She closed her eyes, but already it seemed like there was a greater distance between her brother and herself than the room allowed.

_Antoinette and Gregory, age seven_

“How come you don’t ever get sick anymore?” Greg coughed, curled up into a ball of misery and body heat under the rocketship-patterned covers.

Toni made a face at him. “Because I eat well, and do what Mama tells me to stay healthy.”

“I do too!” Greg protested in a weak voice. His face was stained red with the flush of illness, and his nose was running something awful. Looking at him, she could get a glimpse of the “error” in his “code”, a blip in his aura that was the sickness taking its toll on his vitality.

"Then maybe you managed to catch something from Father's SI office," Toni shrugged. She sat on the edge of his bed and wiggled her fingers at him. "Don't worry, you'll feel better." Little sparks of Power sprinkled down on the bedclothes and bounced and spread like grains of sand over Greg's torso.

Greg closed his eyes and breathed easier. "Wish I could do that," he said quietly.

Toni sobered. "I do too."

The door to Greg's bedroom swung open, and their father strode in, frowning. "Antoinette, what are you doing in here?"

Toni blanched. "Sitting with Greg, Father."

"What Greg needs is rest. Rejoin the guests downstairs."

"But Father--"

Father rounded on her, his eyes glinting dangerously. Toni could smell the whisky he'd been drinking when she'd slipped away. "Are you back-talking me?"

Toni shrank away from him. "No, Father."

"Then do as I say and don't question it! Stop bothering your brother!"

"She wasn't bothering me, Father," Greg spoke up. "She charmed me into feeling better."

Father just became angrier. "You used the Craft on your _brother_?!"

"I just wanted him to get better!" Toni protested. "I'd never hurt him!"

Father grabbed hold of one of her braids and dragged her towards him. "You are _not_  to use magick on your brother and myself!" he shouted.

"I won't!" Toni howled. "I won't ever again!"

"You'd damn well not!" Father bellowed. He dropped her hair and stomped from the room, leaving Toni to clutch at her head and breathe harshly. She blinked furiously but no tears would come.

"'m sorry," Greg finally said in a subdued voice, "for making you use your magick on me."

Toni whirled to look at him. "You're my brother!" she said. "I'd do anything to help you!"

"Then don't help me with your Power anymore," Greg answered, sounding incredibly sad. "Don't make Father angry or he'll separate us more."

Toni breathed out through her nose. "It's not fair," she finally said. "He doesn't want Mama or me to do _anything_!"

"But he's our father," Greg insisted. "We're family. We have to stay together and do things for each other."

It hurt that Greg could so easily side with their father, even though he’d seen every little temper tantrum that Father threw because of what Mama and Toni did. Toni lost count of the times that Father had taken Greg into his offices at S.I. and to the factories, and Greg would come back glowing and excited about what he’d seen, what Father had done that day, and it felt like someone was scooping out Toni’s heart with a melon scooper when Greg would strut around the mansion like the man of the house after these excursions.

And then there were the things like this! How could Greg, her twin brother, ask her to ignore such a huge part of herself?

"I don't want to stop using magick," Toni said furiously. Now that Father wasn't in the room, she had her nerve back. "I’m a Witch, it’s who I am! Magick is what I do!"

"Then don't stop using magick," Greg suggested, sitting up. "Just don't use it around Father, or mention it."

Toni considered it, then nodded. "You have a point." She smiled weakly.

Greg grinned at her. "Unless it's to prank Morgan."

Toni squeaked. "Greg!"

"What?" Greg said innocently. "He even annoys Father."

Toni giggled. "Greg, you're awful. I love it." She hugged him, then dashed out of the bedroom to wreak havoc upon their cousin. She didn't see the smile slide off Greg's face, to be replaced by a kind of longing misery in its wake.

_Antoinette and Gregory, age twelve_

"Do you think this exists?"

Toni looked up from the old edition of _Marvels_  in her lap and squinted across the attic, flooded with sunlight. "Does what exist?"

"Blood rituals. Look." Greg tossed her another issue, and she caught it and flipped it open.

She made a face. "Oh, eew. No, ritual bloodletting has to be consensual in the Craft. Harm is against the rules, defeats the purpose." Toni went back to her reading.

Greg pulled another one out of the box. "Wow, there are so many! Hey, this one has the one adventurer you like."

"Trade you, this one has a sky pirate." They exchanged magazines and immersed themselves in the fictional adventures contained in their father's old men's magazine collection.

There was a lengthy silence and then Greg asked, "What's the point of a ritual knife then?"

Toni frowned at him. "I... Mama says it's mostly just a symbol."

"A symbol for what?"

Toni shrugged. "The Horned God of fertility." She realized what she'd said and blushed scarlet.

Greg burst out laughing.

Toni buried her face in her hands. "Don't ever bring it up again!"

"This is better than when Mama tried to explain puberty to us!" Greg chortled, slapping his thigh.

"Don't!" Toni squeaked.

Greg grinned at her, eyes glinting. "What, we already know about that stuff--"

" _Greg!!_ "

"You're such a prude, Toni!" Greg fell out of his seat.

"I'm not!" Toni retorted. "I just don't want to talk about it!"

"Well," Ana said, pushing the attic door open with her nose. "You two seem to have kept yourselves occupied."

The twins dropped the _Marvels_  magazines and exchanged guilty looks.

"Your father is on his way home from the airport," the fox Familiar announced. "You have an hour to make yourselves presentable."

The two of them scrambled to their feet to clean up their mess. Ana chuckled and slipped back downstairs, leaving them to run to their shared bathroom in order to hurriedly wash their faces and comb their hair.

"Antoinette! Gregory!" Mama called upstairs. "Change into your nice dinner clothes. We are having guests."

The twins looked at each other in horror and split up to change their outfits. They reconvened in the hallway, wearing similar expressions of nervousness.

"Who do you think it is?" Greg asked, trying to straighten his collar. He'd opted for Father's preferred style of white button-up shirt and tan slacks.

"Dunno," Toni answered, fixing a ribbon in her unruly hair. She'd put on a dress of deep burgundy with a ruffled collar and patent leather Mary-Janes.

Ana appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "Hurry, you two!"

Ten minutes later, Mama was fixing their hair and wiping their faces clean of dust they had somehow missed.

"Mama, who is coming here?" Toni asked as Mama gently yanked on Greg's shirt to straighten it out.

Mama sighed. "Some very important people." She smoothed Greg's fringe down. "You two need to be on your best behavior. No bickering, no pranks, and--" she looked at Toni with the most serious expression they had ever seen from her. "Don't argue with your father."

They both nodded wordlessly.

Mama sighed and smiled at them, her lips stretched thin to almost be a grimace. “Jim is coming with his parents as well.”

“Rhodey!” Toni exclaimed, clapping her hands. To her side, Greg’s face closed off and he became surly.

“Yes, I’m sure he’ll be happy to talk to you, _me bambina_ , he’s started at the Academy and came home for the vacation.”

Toni’s mouth fell open. “The Academy,” she breathed.

“I don’t get what’s so special about the old dumb Academy,” Greg muttered.

Toni clasped her hands to her collar and squealed. “Oh, Greg, it’s like the greatest university for Witches--”

“Well why don’t you go there?” Greg answered, making a face at her.

“I would!” Toni retorted. “I would go, if I were old enough!”

“Maybe you’d get more out of it than stupid old Jim,” Greg added, making an even worse face.

“You be nice to Rhodey, he’s always been good to us.” Toni poked her brother on the shoulder. “He was the best babysitter we ever had.”

“He stuck me on the roof!” Greg protested.

Toni crossed her arms. “You wouldn’t do as he said. Besides, he obviously got you down.”

“Now, now,” Mama said, drawing them into her arms for a hug. “Greg, please behave. I realize you and Jim haven’t seen eye-to-eye, but you must be the mature young man that I know you are.”

“Hmph,” Greg sniffed.

“Toni, you mustn’t talk poor Jim’s ear off about the Academy.” Mama looked at them both, then dropped a kiss on each of her children’s foreheads. “Am I clear?”

“Yes, Mama,” the twins answered in varying states of enthusiasm.

“Wonderful.” She gave their shoulders one last squeeze, then swept off into the dining room with Ana trailing in her wake. “Greg, help me set the table. Toni, could you go make sure Adams is almost ready with the roast?”

“Yes, Mama,” both the twins chimed yet again, moving into action.

By the time Father came home, the dining room table was all prepared for a formal dinner, Adams the cook had finished preparing a lovely roast and had set it to simmer in the oven, Greg had managed to choke down his resentment of James Rhodes, and Toni had managed to rein in her excitement of seeing one of her favorite family friends.

Father walked right past his children and caught Mama in a kiss. “Darling,” he murmured. “What’s the occasion?”

“We’ve guests,” Mama answered in a low voice, her eyes coyly half-shuttered.

Father’s brow wrinkled. “Guests? Who’s coming to dinner?”

“The Rhodes, dear. Along with a few others.”

“The Rhodes?” Father made a noise of disgust, and Greg echoed him. “Oh, Maria, I don’t want things flying around the room again.”

“Jim has begun his studies at the Academy, I’m sure he has his… gifts under a firm rein.” Mama fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Darling, I assure you, the Rhodes will be much more welcome than the others that are coming to break bread with us.”

Father looked at Mama strangely. “Who?”

Mama hesitated. “Howard, I couldn’t say no to them. Such a thing would have gotten me into trouble, put me under suspicion.”

“Who is coming to dinner, Maria?” Father asked, his voice becoming harsh and almost cruel.

Maria sighed. “Three members of the Shadow Council,” she answered. “I couldn--”

“I thought that you said they’d never darken our doorway ever again!” Father bellowed. “I don’t want those damned sorcerers to be nosing into my business! You turn them away, you keep them out of my house! The Rhodes I can handle, but the Council?”

“Howard, we don’t have a choice.” Mama’s eyes flicked over to Toni, who shrank in on herself and edged away from the table. “We can’t afford to offend them.”

“They don’t command me!” Father yelled even louder. “They have no right!”

“Then please, consider me!” Mama begged, and Father fell silent. “Do it for me, my dearest.” Mama fixed Father with the most pleading expression Toni had ever seen. “I… I’ve seen what the Council is capable of. Please.”

Toni’s breath caught in her throat. _What is the Council capable of?_  she wondered, then decided that if Mama was frightened, she didn’t want to know.

There was a chime at the door, and the butler Jenkins answered it. A few moments later, much to Toni’s relief, the Rhodes were shown in.

“Rhodey!” she cheered, running to embrace him. “Oh, Rhodey, I’ve missed you! What’s the Academy like? Is it big? Are there lots of people?”

Rhodey was laughing. “ _Mater diella Deava,_  Tones! I just got here, let me take my coat off first!”

Toni grinned up at him as he handed his jacket off to Jenkins and looked around him. “C’mon!” she said, grabbing his wrist and tugging him towards the kitchen, intending to drag him off to the garden.

“Toni, I’d like you to stay inside,” Mama said. “Let’s all go up to the parlor and catch up, shall we?”

Rhodey shrugged at her, and Toni made a face. “But the weather’s nice enough!”

“Tones, if your mom wants us to stay indoors, let’s just do that, huh?”

Toni pouted, but Rhodey winked at her conspiratorially as they followed their parents up to the parlor. He revealed a thin book in his back pocket and waggled his eyebrows, and Toni’s face lit up.

“I’m pretty sure you can handle some of this stuff,” Rhodey said, handing her the book. “We had to buy it, but I’m done with it now. Finished up all the exercises and Craftwork in it. I bet you can manage it too.”

“She’s younger than you,” Greg pointed out, having kept a sullen silence the entire time.

“Yeah, but she’s a magickal prodigy,” Rhodey answered. “If there’s anyone that can master this stuff in under a year, it’s Toni.” He ruffled her hair and she blushed.

“Oh, Rhodey, I promised I wouldn’t bother you about it, but _please_  tell me about the Academy!” She clutched the book to her chest and flopped onto the ottoman.

“Well, the campus is huge.” Rhodey took a seat on the matching couch and leaned forward, elbows braced on his knees. “There are students from all over the world attending and a lot of them live there.”

“Wow,” Toni breathed. She pictured all of the international styles of Craft and grinned. “Have you met Witches from Africa? What about China?”

“Well, most of the exchange students I’ve met are from Europe.” Rhodey started ticking off the list of countries on his fingers. “Italy, Spain, two from Scotland, quite a few from France, lots from England, a few Irish, and one from Portugal…”

“No Commies?” Greg said, still standing off to the side.

Rhodey frowned. “Listen, man, the Witches living east of the Berlin Wall have it really hard. The Communist State doesn’t like the Craft at all, they outlawed it with all religions.”

“That’s horrible!” Toni gasped, eyes wide. “They’re not even allowed to practice?”

“From what I’ve heard, they tore down the Moscow Academy. Burned it to the ground.” Rhodey shook his head in disgust and sadness. “The State over there says that Witches are unfairly advantaged, and if they don’t agree to use their gifts for the State, they banish them to Siberia. Or _worse_.”

“I don’t get it,” Greg commented, nonplussed. “They’re Witches. Why don’t they just overthrow the Commies?”

“Because belief is a powerful thing,” Rhodey said, starting to get annoyed at Greg’s unperturbed reaction to what Toni saw as devastating news. “Witch or Cowan, it doesn’t matter. Belief is a terrifying force. And besides, the State _does_  have Witches on its side. Like, an evil version of the Shadow Council, and they can do horrible things to the civilians who don’t do as they’re told.”

“It’s like _1984_ ,” Toni said in horror.

Rhodey nodded. “Very much so.”

“This is boring,” Greg announced. He wandered away, and Toni looked sadly after him.

Rhodey glanced at her. “Hey, you all right?”

“I’m scared,” she admitted. “Sometimes it feels like it used to, when we were really close. And then sometimes it’s like we’re not even related, much less twins.”

Rhodey patted her hand. “It’s just growing pains. He’ll get over it.”

“I hope so,” Toni said sadly.

Jenkins appeared in the doorway, looking a bit ruffled. “Streghe Yinsen, Streghe Roi, and Strega Harkness have arrived.”

The three Council members filed in, and Mama got to her feet. “Chancellors,” she said in greeting. “Welcome to our home.”

“Strega Stark,” said Streghe Yinsen, a tall man of Asian descent with a mostly-shaved head, a distinctive beard and mustache, and round glasses perched on a hawk-like nose. “It is a pleasure to see you again.”

“Likewise,” Mama said, actually smiling.

Rhodey stared at the three newcomers, then leaned over to Toni. “Those three are the Chancellors of the Academy,” he said in an undertone. “They’re in charge of the overall running of the school. Yinsen even teaches.”

“Have you had him?” Toni asked.

“No,” Rhodey answered. “He’s for the upperclassmen. He’s really advanced!”

“Wow,” Toni breathed.

“May I present to you my husband Howard,” Mama was saying. “My friends, Terrence and Roberta Rhodes, their son James, who just got back from his first year at the Academy, and my children.” She put her hands on Greg’s shoulders. “This is my son Gregory, and over there with Jim is my daughter Antoinette.”

“Ah, Antoinette,” Strega Harkness said, turning to face Toni. “We’ve heard much about you.”

Streghe Roi squinted at the book in Toni’s hands. “Isn’t that the freshman primer required this year?”

“Ah, that’s mine,” Rhodey said hastily. “I was showing it to her. To, you know, give her an idea of what we learn there.”

The three Council members all raised their eyebrows. “That’s quite fortunate,” said Streghe Yinsen. He looked to Mama, who nodded, then turned back to Toni. “Miss Stark. May I call you Antoinette?”

Toni nodded mutely, confused. _What’s going on?_

Father was thinking the same thing. “What are you here for?” he demanded, ever suspicious. “Why are you so interested in my daughter?”

“Oh, we have taken a very special interest in Antoinette,” Streghe Roi said. “Strega Stark approached us some time ago about accelerating her education.”

“You did _what_?” Father demanded of Mama, who was unrepentant.

“I’ve taught her all that I can,” Mama said to the room at large, looking at the Chancellors. “I believe she’s ready.”

“Like hell she is!” Father roared. “I will not--”

“Howard, we have guests,” Mama said sternly, and Father blinked and stared at her. “Behave yourself.”

There was a pause. “Miss Antoinette,” Streghe Yinsen said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “Would you be so kind as to come with us? We will require a private space,” he added.

“My Workroom,” Mama said immediately.

Toni looked at Rhodey, eyes wide, and Rhodey looked about as confused and worried as she felt. She made to hand the primer back to him, but Streghe Yinsen called out, “No, please bring the primer with you. You’ll be Working out of it.”

Toni felt a cold spike of utter terror in her chest, and she started breathing fast.

“Hey,” Rhodey said, grabbing her shoulder and squeezing it. “Hey, you’ll be all right.”

Toni nodded at him, unable to speak.

Rhodey smiled at her reassuringly, but the last thing Toni saw as she was led from the parlor was Greg’s ashen face, twisted into an unreadable expression.

The Rhodes didn’t even stay for dinner, and after the Chancellors had finished testing her, they too departed. Probably for the best, as Mama and Father got into the most explosive fight they’d had ever had.

Toni retreated to her room, still clutching the primer. She curled up in her window seat and stared out at Central Park, still feeling shaky and woozy.

The door clicked and she turned to see Greg edge his way in. “Toni? You okay?”

Toni nodded.

Greg crept over to her and sat down next to her. “What happened? What did they say?”

Toni gulped. “Next year,” she said, looking down at the primer. “This September I’m going to attend the Academy’s accelerated program.”

Greg stared at her, his eyes as round as coins. “You’re leaving me alone?” he asked forlornly.

“It’s not like I have a choice,” Toni said tiredly. “Mama pulled strings to make this happen.”

“But then I’ll be going back to Brighton without you!” Greg pointed out. He looked at her with a betrayed expression. “Is this what you want?”

Toni hesitated, then shrugged.

Greg was silent, so silent that Toni looked up at him to see him fighting back tears. “Have you always thought of yourself as special? As better than us Cowans?” he finally asked hoarsely.

Toni’s eyes widened in panic, and she reached out and grabbed at Greg’s arm, letting the primer fall to the floor. “Never, Greg! I never thought that!”

"Father says stuff," Greg muttered. "He says stuff and sometimes I'm not sure if he isn't lying."

Toni stared sadly at him. "Greg, have Mama and I ever made you feel like that's true?"

"No," Greg whispered. "But..." He looked up at her, his eyes glistening. "You want to go."

Toni was silent, then nodded. "I do. I want to learn more, I want to meet people from all over the world, I want to..." _...to escape from this place, from Father,_  she added silently, but didn't voice the thought. Greg still looked up to their father, while Toni had become most eager to distance herself from the man.

"But what about me, then?" Greg asked. "I can't go with you." His voice carried a current of bitterness that frightened Toni.

"I won't be gone forever," Toni said, fighting down the panic she couldn't quite rationalize away. "And I would visit."

"You'll change," Greg muttered. "You won't be the same anymore."

"I'll grow, and so will you! Greg, we're twins. I'll always be your sister! You won't lose me!"

Greg pulled away and got up from the window seat, moving out of her range.

Toni reached out after him. “Greg! Please, believe me!”

“I’m going to bed,” her brother said quietly, and he left her.

_Antoinette, age twelve_

“Listen to your counsellors,” Mama said, rubbing Toni’s shoulder. “Do as your professors tell you, and don’t get involved in petty drama that your peers might start.”

Toni nodded dully.

“If you need help, you go find Jim. I’ve made sure that he’s the first person to contact in an emergency. Jim will take care of you, okay?”

Toni nodded again.

Mama made a sobbing noise and dropped to her knees to embrace Toni, and Ana pressed between them to rub her head against Toni’s hand. “Oh, _me bambina_ , I’m going to miss you so much!”

“I’ll miss you too, Mama,” Toni said, and at least that was true.

Mama stroked Toni’s hair and kissed her goodbye, and Toni buried her hands in Ana's rust-colored fur one last time before turning to face the Academy, alone.


	8. Chapter 8

Toni gingerly pushed the church door open, sneezing at the dusty smell that greeted her as she stepped into the narthex, Jarvis at her heels. The interior of the vestibule was dim, but even in the semi-darkness Toni was able to pick out Karen Page’s blonde hair.

Karen looked up from whatever she was doing and smiled. “Hello, Strega Stark.”

Toni returned the smile, albeit weakly. “Is Matt in?”

“Of course!” Karen nodded. She peered at Toni in concern. “Are you alright, Toni?”

Toni sighed. “No, Karen, I’m really not.”

Jarvis meowed in agreement.

Karen’s face was devoid of any suspicion but instead filled with sympathy. “Toni,” she said in a low voice. “It will be all right.”

“So you’ve heard,” Toni said in a dull voice.

“Well, yes, it’s all over town.” She put down the stack of bulletins - Toni realized she was organizing the church bulletin board - and moved over to Toni’s side. “Toni, I know you probably won’t appreciate me preaching at you from a different religion, but… as corny as it sounds, God always makes sure the truth comes out.”

“I hope you’re right,” Toni answered quietly. Her depression must have leaked into her voice, because Karen took her wrist and pulled her into the nave, down the aisle.

“Whoa, hey, I just need to talk to Matt--”

“You believe in the power of rituals, right?” Karen interrupted her, her voice light.

Toni made a face at her. “Karen, I’m a Witch. Rituals are what I do.”

“Then humor me.”

They reached the bema, and to the left was a table covered in candles of various sizes. Karen picked up a long lucifer stick and stole a bit of flame from one burning candle, then handed the stick to Toni. “Go ahead.”

“Karen, I’m not--”

“God, your Goddess, the Almighty Creator - whoever they are…” Karen smiled at Toni, the smile of someone who had been in the place Toni was in now - a place of no hope and eternal darkness - but had been saved before being lost in the darkness forever. “I think whoever or whatever is out there, it listens to its children no matter what language they speak. Or what rituals they perform.” She wrapped her hand around Toni’s and guided it to an unlit candle.

Toni closed her eyes and breathed in the silence of the church, and felt Karen let go of her hand. She sensed something immense, something soft and constant and something comforting, wrapping around her and embracing her without her even uttering a plea.

She touched the lucifer stick to the wick of the candle, and it caught immediately.

_Please,_  she thought, and even in her mind she sounded shaky and afraid. _Please, Goddess. God. Whoever you are. Please help me fix this._

She didn’t hear an answer in the vastness of the church, but Jarvis rubbed his head against her ankle.

She blew out the lucifer stick and handed it back to Karen, who smiled at her again. “You feel better?” the blonde asked.

To Toni’s surprise, she did. “Thank you,” she said, her voice hushed and choked like she was about to cry.

She wouldn’t, though, but she would if she could.

Karen drew her into a one-armed hug. “You are very welcome. I’m glad I could help.”

On the other side of the church, there was a noise, and then the pastor of the parish emerged from his office, accompanied by Sarah Rogers.

“Oh, Toni dear!” Sarah called. Even in her sixties and stricken with an aggressive leukemia, she radiated energy and vitality. “Toni, darling!”

Karen patted Toni on the back and tilted her head in Matt and Sarah’s direction, and Toni made her way across the nave and through the pews so Sarah didn’t have to walk over to her. “Hi Sarah,” she said, and Steve’s mother beamed.

“Toni, darling, I must thank you for making sure my Stevie is eating properly during this awful business.” She made a face and Toni fought a grin. “That son of mine is too devoted to his job, sometimes.”

“In his defense, he usually eats when there aren’t any big cases drawing his attention,” Toni said, and Sarah flapped a hand at her.

“Yes, but my darling Stevie never quite grasped the art of cooking for himself, and while I love Arnie and Bucky and Sam dearly, they’re no culinary masters either.” She pursed her lips, and Toni felt a smile tugging at her own. “Making those instant macaroni and cheese meals doesn't count as cooking.”

“No, I agree,” Toni giggled. “I’m happy to cook for him.” The moment she said that, Matt smirked at her and she wanted to kick herself. “Knock it off, Murdock.”

The blind pastor raised an eyebrow. “Whatever are you talking about, Strega Stark?”

“You, making faces at me.”

“Now, why would I do that? I’m a distinguished man of the cloth.”

Sarah snorted. “I knew you in your youth, Matthew. You’re not fooling anyone.” She patted his shoulder, and Karen appeared at her side. “Ah, Karen, would you be so kind as to help me light a candle for my late husband?”

“Of course, Mrs. Rogers,” Karen shot Toni a grin over Sarah’s head and offered her arm for Sarah to grasp. “Have a good rest of the day, Toni.”

“Thanks again, Karen,” Toni waved as they moved away, and then turned back to Matt. “Um.”

“Would you like to step into my office?” Matt asked, still genial.

Toni nodded, mostly to herself, and scooped up Jarvis. “Yeah, that might be for the best.”

 

“So,” Matt said, once he was settled in his chair. His office was the very definition of humble, sparsely decorated - his being blind, Toni presumed that he felt there was no point in it - and simultaneously comfortable. Matt had worked under the previous priest before the old man retired, leaving Matt to take over in his stead some seven years ago. He’d proven to be a popular and charismatic pastor in that time, and he was also remarkably progressive in his views. Toni had struck up an odd friendship with him, what with her being the head of her coven and him heading a parish.

“You’ve probably heard what everyone else has,” she said now, and Matt frowned.

“Yes, I’ve heard the rumors, and what Chief Dooley has chosen to release to the public.” He leaned forward. “I’ll bet you know more than I do.”

Toni sighed. “I’m officially off the case as it is.” She buried her face in her hands and moaned. “Matt, what I’m about to tell you doesn’t leave this room.”

“Toni, you know darn well I won’t say a thing,” he answered, and Toni snorted at his choice of a replacement cuss word.

“Good man.” She slowly removed her hands from her face and folded them in her lap. “They suspect me. Not just to be petty, because they don’t like me… Look, Krzeminski was an ass a few days ago, and I hexed him once he wore out my patience. I removed it almost right away!” she added hurriedly. “I just… I shut him up, he was harassing Steve and getting on our nerves and we were trying to have a serious discussion about the case and the occult aspect of it, and he just… so I literally shut his mouth and then silenced him, but I took it off. I swear.”

“Toni, never once have I known you to truly abuse your gifts,” Matt said evenly. “What happened then?”

“I… I warned him. It came out sounding like a threat.” Toni’s shoulders slumped. “It was in front of Dooley and everyone. His buddy Thompson, Souza, the rest of the force. They were all there. They all saw. Heard me.”

Matt silently regarded her in that way that only he could. “So,” he finally said. “What exactly did you say?”

Toni closed her eyes and breathed out. “That the next time he pissed me off, the hex I would use would be harder to undo.”

Matt nodded slowly. “That was impulsive and not in good taste, I think.”

Toni snorted again. “Yeah, right.”

“Toni,” Matt leaned forward, “ _did_  you do it? Did you kill Krzeminski?”

Toni stared at him in shock. “ _No!_ ” she sputtered. “I would never--”

“And I know you’re telling the truth,” Matt interrupted her. “Don’t worry, I never suspected you would. I just wanted to hear you say it.” He was smiling, but quickly sobered. “I know you well enough to be convinced of your innocence. You and your coven have given help and aid to a good majority of my flock. That makes you good in my book.” He reached across his desk and tapped the surface right in front of her, in that uncanny way that made Toni suspect he wasn’t completely blind like he claimed he was. “And while you may not share my faith in the divine, I _do_  believe that the truth will come out of this whole mess. This _will_  end, Toni. And the dust settles, you will stand victorious.”

Toni felt the pickling of impossible tears at the corners of her eyes again. “That… that means a lot to me, Matt.”

“Anytime,” the pastor answered. He leaned back in his seat and drummed his fingers on the desk. “I will speak of your innocence in this matter, and I hope you don’t mind that I offer prayers for you and your coven during these trying times.”

Toni recognized the gesture for what it was. “We don’t mind at all. I appreciate your support.”

“But Toni, Foggy has been bringing me worrying news about Stryker’s followers.” Matt’s face twisted in barely contained disgust; he was usually good at masking his distaste of his self-proclaimed “rival” in faith - Stryker actually had pronounced Matt and himself rivals the very week he took the helm of his own church -  but Toni knew that what made Matt such a good pastor was his ability to move past his own negative emotions and work towards a better resolution for all involved. She knew it took infinite patience and a lot of meditation, and he had even approached her when she first arrived in Cravenswood to commission a tattoo, located on his inner wrist. “I need help with my anger,” he’d said. “Sometimes it feels like the Devil is in me, trying to claw its way out.”

“Veritan Stregheria tells us that the Devil, the one source of all evil, does not exist,” she’d told him as she designed the tattoo, picked the specially blended inks from Pepper’s supply. “Instead, it is broken up into little shards that every person carries inside of them. There is no Devil, there is only us and our dual human nature. There’s no shame in the dark side of your person. There is only shame in your refusal to tame it.”

Now, he rubbed at the tattoo, which she knew he did when he was feeling very tempted to be uncharitable and un-pastorly. “I can’t speak for every member of my church, but I know that some of Stryker’s words are beginning to reach their ears. We are afraid, Toni.”

“I’m afraid, too,” she admitted. “I can’t stop what I can’t understand, and everything that’s happened here in the past has been something I _knew_ , something I _recognized_.”

Jarvis jumped onto her lap and pushed his head into her arm. She felt her hand come to rest on his back automatically, and he purred against her throat.

“Toni.”

She looked back up at him. “Matt.”

He had taken off his glasses, and his unseeing gaze still managed to lock onto her. “I have faith in you. You have always come through for us before. You are a part of Cravenswood, a part of this town’s flesh and blood. Don’t forget that, and don’t forget those who love and believe in you.”

Toni breathed out, a weak smile on her lips. “Thank you, Matt.”

 

She found herself at the diner, where Angie was holding court with the mid-morning lull.

“Hey, Glinda,” Angie said, sliding an unasked-for - but all the same appreciated - cup of coffee with Toni’s usual fixings in her direction. “Hello, Jarvis.” She scratched Toni’s Familiar on the head, and Jarvis purred in pleasure. “Can I get you any actual food, or will it just be coffee?”

“Coffee for now, if you don’t mind terribly,” Toni said, gratefully accepting the cup. “I might ask for some pie, if you have any.”

“Pie this early in the day? Must be a rough one you’re having.” Angie leaned over the bar, her curly hair tumbling over her shoulder. “Hey, you’re probably sick of hearing this stuff, but I’m on your side in this whole mess. Peggy told me you might need some support, and you can count on me.”

Toni blinked furiously. “Wow, Angie, you have no idea what that means to me.”

Angie patted her hand and glided off to deal with another patron down at the end of the bar.

Clint Barton appeared at Toni’s side and climbed onto the stool next to her. “Toni, can I talk to you?”

“What about?” Toni asked, sipping at her coffee.

“It’s the strangest thing,” Clint said, taking off his baseball cap and setting it on the counter. “Just this week, my cows have been sick or something. Keep giving milk that spoils within hours.”

Toni stared at him, eyes wide. _Carillon d’inferno,_  she did not need this. “Spoils?”

“Yeah. And the chickens aren’t putting out eggs, or if they do they’re already rotten.” Clint worried at the brim of his hat. “Toni, could someone have hexed my animals?”

“I… I don’t know. Maybe. Can I come out there? Examine them?” She felt the beginnings of a low-grade panic attack and fought to quash it down. “Maybe put a protective charm on the farm?”

“I was hoping you’d say that,” Clint said in relief. “If I’m not around, Kate or Bobbi will be out keeping an eye on things. We’ve been on the lookout for stuff, but so far whatever the problem is isn’t something we can shoot at.”

“No, it wouldn’t be.” Toni shuddered. “Clint, this sounds like a Plague.”

“A plague?” Clint repeated, making a face. “Like the bubonic plague?”

“No, it’s like a form of ill-wishing.” Toni stared into her coffee, wondering when this parade of bad news would end. “Like how in _Romeo and Juliet_  Mercutio says ‘a pox on all your houses’ and then dies, and then five others die because of it.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Clint blinked. “Are you saying Mercutio cursed everyone in the play? And that someone did that to me?”

“One, the story is based off of a real happening in ancient Rome, so Shakespeare probably wrote what he knew. Two, I don’t think you did anything to bear the ill-will of anyone magickally gifted. I think it’s tied to whatever’s been haunting this town.” Toni downed her coffee, scalding her tongue and throat in doing so. She coughed.

Clint was still staring at her. “That might explain why there’s no game left in the woods.”

“Excuse me?”

“The woods are barren. You can’t even walk in there and hear birdsong. It’s unnerving,” he added. “And there’s this… rot. This weird rot setting in. Like, fungus I’ve never seen before. A couple of the younger trees have died, and I’m worried it will spread throughout the forest.”

“What?” Toni set down her cup _hard_. “Where is it originating?”

“To be honest? Not sure. Ask Kate.” He named his cousin, who lived on the farm with him. “She knows those woods as well as I do, possibly even better.” He beamed with pride.

“I will be doing that, thanks.” She motioned Angie over. “Could you get a message to Peggy and Steve for me? I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to get anywhere near the office.”

Angie nodded. “Sure. Hey, um. I forgot to mention to you but…” she bit her lip and glanced down the bar, where a few uniformed officers were taking their coffee break. They occasionally shot suspicious looks and sometimes outright glares at them… at Toni. Angie sighed and went on: “Krzeminski came in here for lunch the day you hexed him. He was really pissed. Yelled about it a lot. I almost had to kick him out for being disruptive.”

Toni wanted to bang her head on the counter. “What else did he say?”

“Well, he wondered if Stryker didn’t have a point about your coven. Everyone thought he was just blowing smoke out of his ass,” Angie rushed to reassure Toni. “But… it was the lunch rush, there were a lot of people that heard it.”

“ _Carillon d’inferno,_ ” Toni muttered. She motioned to Angie for her notepad, and Angie handed it to her. “Give this to Peggy or Steve, whoever you see first. Dooley may not want me involved in the murder investigation but whatever is happening is serious and I can’t drop it.” She scribbled a note about Clint’s farm and her suspicions, tore the page off, and handed it to Angie. Angie stuffed it down her shirt and stuck her tongue out at Clint, who snorted.

“I’ll see that they get it,” Angie promised. “You take care of yourself, Tones.”

Toni smiled, then slipped a twenty under her coffee cup. “C’mon, Clint. We’re going to your farm.”

“Great, I brought the truck.” He slapped his cap back onto his head and they left the diner.

 

“It’s the weirdest thing,” Bobbi said, shaking her head. Clint’s live-in girlfriend of five years crossed her arms and glared at the woods. “Some of the old girls won’t even eat anymore. I’m worried.”

“Old girls?” Toni repeated.

“The cows,” Clint translated. His one-eyed Labrador retriever Lucky danced around them, barking at Jarvis, who ignored the dog entirely. It was worth mentioning that Jarvis was firmly attached to Toni’s shoulder and clung to her whenever she moved, refusing to dismount.

Toni nodded, and Jarvis dug his paws into her shirt. “Oh. Where’s Kate at?”

“She’s out by the edge of the paddock.” Clint pointed out his cousin, the dark-haired teen perched on a fencepost.

“Okay. I’m going to go see what she can tell me, and then I’ll do a basic protection on the farmland.” Toni thought about it. “I’ll come back tonight with blessed metals and do a stronger protection spell. Your animals should notice something and start acting normally soon.”

“You have no idea what a relief that is to hear,” Bobbi said, smiling gratefully at her. She shuddered and chafed her arms, and it must have been a trick of the light but she looked pale.

Toni shot her a reassuring smile and then headed out to Kate, near the fringe of the forest. Lucky followed, then ran ahead and pranced around the teen, barking excitedly.

Kate came from Chicago, and her parents had sent her out to live with Clint once Kate made it clear she didn’t want to go to the private school she had been attending. Toni was fairly sure Kate would never leave Cravenswood if given the choice. She loved the freedom of the farm and the forest, and had managed to gain a group of tight-knit friends in town.

Toni caught up to her as she hopped off the fencepost and got down on her knees to scratch Lucky’s ears and coo at the dog. Lucky’s tail thrashed happily, and the sight made Toni smile.

“Strega Stark,” Kate said, looking up at her. She shushed the dog and got back on her feet - Kate was fairly tall and muscled for her age, with gorgeous, silky-straight black hair and features that clearly displayed her father’s Korean roots. Her sharp blue eyes were narrowed. “Did Clint tell you about all the animals getting sick?”

“Are they sick?” Toni asked. She never bothered to treat kids and teens like they were stupid, preferring to talk to them like she would adults.

Kate nodded. “I just have this feeling that something’s making them sick. And they’re scared, too.” She pointed at Craven’s Woods, and Toni had to admit that the very trees looked sickly. “There’s something creeping around in there. Whatever it is, it’s not good.”

“Kate, Clint said you would know where it was coming from.” Toni moved closer to the girl, and Kate met her eyes with no fear. Toni instead saw anger, burning in the girl’s gaze. Toni would hate to be on the receiving end of that fury.

“It’s coming from the woods near the east side of the lake,” Kate said, not a hint of hesitation in her tone. “Strega, whatever it is, it’s hurting my farm. I want it gone.” She dug into her pocket. “I want you to do whatever it takes to get rid of it.”

Toni reached out and grasped the girl’s wrist. “Kate, I’ll do it for free.”

Kate looked back up at her and blinked, then nodded. “Good,” she said grimly. “And I want a chance to shoot it if I can, to pay it back for all of this grief.”

Toni laughed. “If I chase it out of the woods and you get a good shot, you take it. Okay?”

Kate grinned, a savage baring of her teeth. “Okay.”

 

“Craven's Lake?” Rhodey repeated, making a face. “Not the Beastly One's Workplace?”

“I’m not for sure,” Toni answered, digging through her supply of blessed medallions. “But Kate said it’s coming from near the east end of the park.”

“Did you investigate?” Pepper asked, pointing to a wooden box. “She might have seen something. Here, that’s got more of them in it.”

“Oh. Good.” Toni grabbed the box and opened it. “Nice, this stuff will work nicely. No, I didn’t investigate. I put the basic protective spell on the farm so that the animals would start eating again.”

“Well, good on you to have proper priorities.” Pepper scooped a handful of medallions and spread them over the kitchen table. “Who are you taking tonight? You can’t cast such a large protective spell alone and expect it to last.”

“Rhodey, you willing to come out with me?” Toni asked, and Rhodey nodded. “Great. I’ll see if Thor and Jane, and maybe Carol and Jess can come out. That should be enough Power to keep whatever it is in the woods away from Clint’s farm.”

“Six Witches will be enough, but are we enough of a coven to banish whatever is tainting Craven’s Woods to this degree?” Pepper asked.

Toni looked up and zeroed in on her longtime friend and coven-sister. “What do you mean?”

Pepper bit her lip. “We might… need to contact the Council.”

“Oh. No. _No._  Absolutely not.” Toni shook her head furiously. “No. I do not want them involved.”

“Pep, for once I agree with her,” Rhodey piped up, dragging a hand over his face. “They might use this as leverage to drag her onto the Council.”

“Is that such a bad thing now?” Pepper asked. “I mean, you’re certainly mature enough. And you’re more skilled than a good many Witches, even learned ones. You wouldn’t have to return to New England, since there are Council members spread around the country. And how often does the Council convene, anyway?”

“I seem to remember you telling me in school that I should avoid being drafted into Council doings,” Toni grumbled. “What changed your mind?”

“The fact that you have successfully helmed one of the largest covens in the Midwest for a decade,” Pepper answered breezily. “We literally watched you grow up, Toni. Not to mention what you’ve managed to do with marrying Cowan technology with communication magicks.”

“I haven’t worked on that in a while,” Toni pointed out.

“Yes, but any time you manage to create a phone that Rhodey or I can use as well as Happy does is worth mentioning.”

“She does have a point,” Rhodey agreed.

“Pick a side, won’t you?” Toni groused at him.

"I'm on the logical side." Rhodey turned a medallion over in his hand.

Toni was about to argue with him again when she suddenly cocked her head. "Steve is calling." She got to her feet and headed over to the phone as it started to ring. She picked it up on the second chime. "Steve?"

"How does she even do that?" Rhodey muttered to Pepper, who laughed quietly. "Woman, you are too obvious," he added to Toni, who shushed him.

"Toni, we got your message. Also, Peggy and Angie say they owe you either eighteen bucks or nine more cups of coffee." Steve paused. "Also hello."

"Steve, what did Bruce say?"

Steve made an odd noise. "Bruce says he called it." She could practically see him pinching the bridge of his nose. "We have a serial killer in Cravenswood."

" _Carillon d’inferno,_ " Toni breathed. "If whoever this is could get Krzeminski..."

"Toni, please tell me you're still working on the occult angle," Steve said in a lowered voice. "Thompson is chomping at the bit to take our place on this case. He's close to convincing Dooley, too."

"Do whatever you can to convince him to keep you on the case," she urged him. "Steve... this is getting seriously out of hand. Matt says Stryker is starting to convince people in the parish."

"Fuck," Steve muttered. "I was hearing whispers but I was hoping it wasn't true."

Toni bit her lip, then offered, quietly, "Jan had an idea earlier and I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't entertain it."

Steve was silent for a minute, then said "Hit me with it."

"Jan thinks Stryker could be the one doing these rituals, in an attempt to turn the town's suspicions against us. The coven. He could be trying to drive us out."

"Could he be the Beastly One you mentioned?" Steve asked. "Or do you still think the Beastly One isn't connected to this?"

"I don't know what to think," Toni answered. "But I am determined to find out."

 

Toni, Rhodey, Thor, Jane, Carol, and Jess arrived at Clint's farm around dusk, and Clint was waiting for them. His expression was grim.

"I lost three chickens and a cow since you left," he said.

Jane gasped, and the others exchanged somber looks.

"When we find out who or what is doing this, I'm going to strangle it with my bare hands," Carol announced, barely-contained fury simmering under her stoic demeanor.

"If you even can," Apollo muttered before taking wing overhead. Frija and Woden followed.

"Let's get this done," Toni ordered. She looked at Clint. "I'm sorry I wasn't here fast enough."

"It's not you," Clint said in response. "I waited too long to call you in. Besides, they got sick so quick."

"We're gonna make sure it doesn't happen again," Jess said confidently. They each took three medallions and fanned out, seeking the perimeter of the property.

Toni stayed with the car. "Clint, let me cleanse the bodies. You didn't just throw them out, right?"

Clint snorted. "I wouldn't have done that. They're out away from everything else." He pointed to the distance and Toni knew he had done right. "You'll be wanting to burn them, right?"

"It's the safest thing we can do," Toni answered. "We're not sure if it can spread to people."

Clint got a worried look on his face. "Can you check us three over before you go? Just to be safe?"

"Of course."

Clint nodded his thanks and left her to her Work.

They successfully reinforced Toni's original protection spell with the blessed metals, and by the time they wrapped up the Working, the sun had long set. If Toni was right in her estimation, the moon was waxing towards its fullness behind the oppressive blanket of clouds. Jane and Thor went to the farmhouse to check over Clint and Bobbi and Kate, and the others performed a thorough cleansing on the dead animals. Carol called up flames in her hands and lit the corpses ablaze. They burned unusually quickly -  like tinder - and Toni shuddered at the implications of that. There had been an overabundance of carrion flies.

_This place is under attack,_  she thought to herself as they consecrated the site and buried the ashes outside of the protective barriers.

Once that was done, they started back towards the farmhouse to wait for Jane and Thor.

They weren't kept long; Jane burst out of the house, eyes wide. "Toni, we have a problem."

Dread surged up her throat like bile. The others went silent.

Jane looked at them all, then up at the starless sky. She swallowed and then confirmed their fears: "Whatever affected those animals, it's affecting Bobbi. She's sick."

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

Jane immediately went to work on something to reverse the effects of the Plague magick, but Toni could tell that she was worried. Something was off, and everyone could tell.

Clint and Kate - and even Lucky - had gotten a clean bill of health, so Jane put Bobbi in quarantine as Toni specifically charmed a few leftover amulets to ward off the Plague on humans.

“Can you help her?” Clint asked, and only years of knowing him would have let Toni know exactly how terrified he was.

“We will,” Jane had responded with certainty. “This isn’t our first Plague.”

Toni hadn’t known that about the Blakes, but it managed to reassure her.

Thor left and came back a half hour later with Pepper in tow. Pepper set up shop in the kitchen and Thor joined Jane in the quarantine. Clint was locked out for his safety, so he paced in the hallway.

Toni convened with Carol, Jess, and Rhodey out by the truck again. “Pepper… Pepper earlier mentioned…” she winced, and Carol and Jess stared at her.

“Pepper mentioned bringing in the Council on this,” Rhodey finished for her. “I’m starting to think it may be a better idea than just leaving this be.”

“The Council?” Carol repeated, her eyes widening. “Are you insane?”

“Are they still after me?” Jess asked in a joking tone, but her expression was anything but.

“They can’t touch you,” Toni said as reassuringly as she could. “They have no right to. You were absolved.”

“Yeah, that’s what we all think,” Jess muttered, chafing her arms. She looked up at all of them. “If the Council is coming here, I’m going to… I’m going to make myself scarce.”

“I’ll respect your decision if you have to do that,” Toni said.

“Thanks,” Jess answered sarcastically, then looked up at the lit window upstairs. “I’m not mad, I won’t be if you call them in. This is serious. But… they need to stay focused on the real problems.”

“The new Council is better,” Rhodey pointed out. “Not perfect, but better than it was. Half of the real troublesome people have died out, and the others were pushed out.”

“Yeah, Reed is still on it, right?” Carol ticked names off on her fingers. “So’re Namor and Stephen Strange, and Xavier… lots of ‘intellectual academic’ types that don’t really Work much.”

“Reed will listen to me, though,” Toni said. “He owes me.”

"I hope that's true," Carol said.

Right then, Happy pulled up in his sedan. "Hey, boss," he said tiredly. "How come your weird stuff happens at night?"

Toni shrugged and looked around at her coven. "There's nothing more we can do here tonight. Happy can take us back into town."

The others murmured their assent and climbed into the car, and Toni waved Woden and Frija down. "Let them know we're leaving. Keep and preserve them."

"Blessed be, Strega Stark," Woden said.

Toni nodded, then climbed into the back with Jess and Carol. As they rumbled down the dirt road back towards the main street, she fell asleep on Carol's shoulder.

Pepper and Happy didn't come to the Manor the next day, and a blinking light on Toni's answering machine heralded Happy's message from earlier in the morning; Toni herself had slept through the ringing of the phone, and it sounded like Pepper had been utterly drained during the night. Toni called up to Clint's, and he tersely informed her that Bobbi was still suffering under the symptoms.

Toni said goodbye and hung up, feeling useless. She spent the rest of the morning in the basement, charming up more talismans against the Plague.

Around noon, Jarvis alerted her to the ringing phone.

_It can't be Steve,_  she thought, hurrying over to the cordless that she had mounted near the stairwell. Briefly, she had a flash of a vision... _May Parker?_

Frowning, she answered the phone. "This is Toni Stark."

"Antoinette, are you all right?"

_Greg!_  Toni blinked in surprise. "I'm quite well, at least as much as I can be."

"That doesn’t sound promising,” Greg replied, his tone light. “Say, it’s been a few days, you feeling up to catching up?”

Toni blinked. “Uh--”

“Unless of course you don’t want to,” Greg said hastily. “I completely understand if you’re not ready to reconnect after all that happened before…”

“No!” Toni said quickly. “No, I…” She paused and looked down at Jarvis, who flicked his tail. “I think ten years is long enough, and I probably need to get out and get some fresh air. Meet me in town for lunch?”

“That sounds delightful. The diner?”

Toni considered it, then shook her head. “Old Man Logan’s is a decent tavern, they have a good menu.”

“Are you still not drinking, or is that something that ended in the last decade?”

Ouch. That kind of stung. “Well, yeah, still sober, but it’s not like Logan’s doesn’t have non-alcoholic beverages on the menu,” she said, trying for a cheery, joking manner. “I’ve been dry for over a decade, Greg. I think I’ll be fine.”

He chuckled over the line. “It is heartwarming to hear you say that. Very well, I’ll meet you at Logan’s. Does half an hour work?”

“Sure. You know how to get there?”

“I’ll manage. If I can’t, I’ll ask Mrs. Parker for directions.”

Toni raised her eyebrows. “Wow, that’s big of you.”

Her brother laughed again. “Ten years will do that to you.”

“Do what? Make you humble?” she asked without thinking.

There was a long silence, and Toni mentally kicked herself for overstepping her bounds.  _Carillon d’inferno, can I not go for a single conversation without sticking my foot in my mouth?_

Greg coughed. “I suppose I deserved that.”

“No, Greg, I didn’t mean to--”

“Don’t worry about it, Antoinette,” he interrupted her. “I won’t deny that I’ve made my share of mistakes. Could we let bygones be bygones? Or at least, could we just try and have lunch like two normal, civilized people?”

Toni’s hackles went up at the word “normal” but she swallowed down her protest. “Of course. Logan’s in half an hour. I’ll see you there.”

After she’d hung up, she looked down at Jarvis, who had narrowed his eyes at her. “What?”

“I do not presume to understand the bonds of blood, Mistress,” the daemon answered primly, swishing his tail in displeasure, “but you are entirely too eager to reconcile with someone who so grievously injured you in the past.”

“Maybe he found God and changed,” Toni muttered, moving to her Worktable to clean it up and banish any lingering traces of Power.

“Perhaps,” Jarvis agreed in a reluctant tone. Once the Workspace was cleared, he bounded up the steps and let himself out of the stairwell - Toni heard the basement door unlatch and swing open.

She sighed and slumped forward over her stool, gathering her wits. “Pretty sure family isn’t supposed to be this difficult,” she muttered, heading to the stairwell so she could wash up and change for lunch.

She arrived at Logan’s - sans Jarvis - before Greg did, so she ordered a ginger ale and pulled up a barstool to wait.

Old Man Logan himself - a gruff Canadian with serious sideburns and a mysterious past (and possibly two or three aliases that no one bothered to straighten out) - eyed her at his bar and raised a thick brow. “Never pegged you for the lowkey kinda first date, Stark. Where’s Rogers at, he’s the arrive-early type.”

Toni flipped him off. “Forget it, Logan. I’m meeting my brother.”

“Oh, that oddball blond guy at the Parkers’?” Logan chomped on a cigar but thankfully didn’t light it. He slipped a cardstock coaster in front of her and set her ginger ale down on it. “I hear he keeps weird hours.”

“He’s a Stark, so it’s entirely possible,” Toni said, sipping the soda. “Our father did as well.”

“You do too, what with the dancin’ naked under the moon and all,” Logan waggled his eyebrows.

Toni snorted. “The nudity is entirely optional,” she informed him loftily, and Logan snorted back at her as he headed away to take care of other patrons.

“Toni?”

At the sound of her name, she turned around and spotted Steve’s familiar blue gaze from across the room. Surprise faded to an easy grin, and Steve waved her over to his booth.

Toni blinked, then slid off of her stool and clutched her glass of soda as she crossed the semi-crowded pub. Steve was accompanied by his other childhood friend Arnie Roth, who worked at the emergency services call center, and Sam Wilson, an EMT and volunteer trauma counselor with the local hospital.

“This is the last place I’d expect you to wander into, Strega,” Sam said, scooting over to make room for her.

“I’m meeting my brother for lunch,” she replied, climbing into the seat and setting her drink down. “Figured he’d want to sample more of our ‘unique flavors’.” She did sarcastic air quotes, and the guys all snorted. “Besides, I think he’s been eating at the diner every day for lunch.”

“Well, you can’t beat Logan’s charming manner,” Arnie remarked dryly as the man in question dragged a teenage boy out of the back room by the scruff of his neck and shoved the kid out the tavern door.

Sam nudged Steve, and exchanged a conspiratorial look with Arnie. “You know, you must have a sixth Witch-sense, because we were just talking about you.”

Steve went beet red and threw a french fry at Sam. “Shut up.”

“Say, Toni,” Arnie rested his elbows on the table and leaned forward. “Are love spells a thing?”

“Why? Is Michael dumping you?” Toni stuck her tongue out at him, and he snorted.

“We’re wondering. For a friend.” Sam nudged Steve again.

“Usually, when someone says that, they mean themselves.” Toni raised her eyebrows and steepled her fingers. “So, Sam, who’re you crushing on?”

Sam laughed so hard that tears leaked out of his eyes. “Oh, I can assure you, it’s not for me.”

“Ignore them,” Steve said, still rather flushed. He sneered at his sniggering friends. “Besides, love spells aren’t allowed, right?”

“They’re generally frowned upon. Like, making someone forcibly fall in love with you? Very very taboo.” Toni sipped at her drink. “I actually had to intervene with one once, in New York.”

“Oh, this I gotta hear about,” Sam gestured with an onion ring. “Tell us about Big City Witchery, that’s always fun.”

“Nothing to tell.” Toni shrugged. “Young woman, Academy dropout. She was living out of Brooklyn, mixing love potions and the like and selling them to teenage girls for a ridiculous price. She’d sometimes extort people, too. I found out about her because a high school senior managed to induce her English teacher to leave his wife and children to be with her. It was… messy.” She winced at the memory. “I managed to undo it without the Shadow Council stepping in, thank goodness, but it was really really messy.”

“Shit,” Arnie said, eyes wide. “That’s pretty gross, to be honest.”

“Yeah, messing with free will is a big no-no with the more ethical Witches,” Toni agreed. “This poor guy had been bamboozled into being completely obsessed with her. It had gotten to the point that he couldn’t eat or sleep.”

The men all had similar expressions of horror on their faces.

Toni hurried to reassure them. “But it’s seriously taboo, so obviously if anyone in the coven here is approached for one, they know better.”

“Well, what’s an ethical way to get romance blooming?” Arnie asked.

“Yeah, what if we just want to get hidden love revealed?” Sam chimed in.

Steve looked like he wanted to be swallowed up by the floor.

Toni blinked. “Um, that is so not my forte. Maybe Jan or Carol can pull that one off.” She scrutinized the three of them. “Who is this for?”

Steve swiveled to glare at his friends, and Sam made a face at him. Arnie had known Steve for too long; he grinned, uncowed by Steve’s ire. “It’s for Stevie-boy here, to be honest.”

“Shut _up!_ ” Steve growled. “Seriously!”

“Oh.” Toni looked back and forth at them. “Um. Steve?”

Steve looked back at her, obviously panicking. “Don’t take them seriously, Toni.”

“Steve, can you really blame us for saying this?” Sam said, fighting laughter. “It’s pathetic, man!”

“Pathetic,” Arnie echoed. “It’s been _years_  and he refuses to make a move.”

Steve had someone he was interested in. And Arnie and Sam were trying to hook him up with her. _Oh._  Bitter depression and disappointment rose like bile up her throat, and Toni coughed. “Sounds… painful?”

“Painful to him and everyone watching,” Sam groused, albeit good-naturedly. “Steve, how long has it been since Rachel? Since you last got _laid_?”

“Getting laid is just a bonus to the relief of requited romance,” Arnie added dramatically. “And I can say for sure that it’s been too long.”

Steve dropped his head onto the countertop with a loud _thunk_  and let out a long moan.

Toni could feel her forehead scrunching up. “Who is it?” Could it be Bernie or Rachel? Those were the two girlfriends Steve had dated the longest in the time she’d known him. Rachel wasn’t the type to be tied down in marriage, so maybe Sam and Arnie were trying to help Steve with that… Bernie had left the county for Chicago, but Toni knew that she and Steve still wrote each other...

“ _Do. Not._ ” Steve ground out, and he looked like he was ready to burst a vein.

Sam and Arnie were clearly going to ignore his warnings, but then a familiar voice called Toni’s name.

“Antoinette?”

Toni glanced up and caught sight of Greg in the tavern’s doorway. “Oh! Greg, over here!” She made to get out of the booth, but Arnie stopped her.

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” he said. “You can totally stick around, it’s fine.”

“So this is your twin?” Sam added as Greg made his way over to the table. “You two look almost nothing alike.”

“We got that a lot as kids,” Toni admitted. She and Sam scooted over to make room for Greg, and he settled primly on the end of the booth, looking very out-of-place in another immaculate white suit.

“Do you have any leisure clothes at all?” she asked, eyeing her brother.

Greg gave her an amused glance. “These are my leisure clothes.”

“Oh my god, you’re turning into… _him_.” Toni made a face at him, ignoring the way the mere mention of their father made her want to claw at her own face.

“Now, Antoinette, Father managed to do a lot of impressive work when he helmed S.I.” Greg regarded her calmly. “I realize you never saw eye-to-eye with him, but that really couldn’t be helped.”

“Really?” Sam asked in his Therapist Voice, and Steve elbowed him.

“Our father was never really one-hundred percent comfortable with Witches in the family,” Toni said. And, well, it _was_  true, no matter how much it stung. “Makes me wonder why he decided to marry Mama in the first place.”

“Mother bewitched him,” Greg said, in a strange tone. “She enchanted him.”

Toni snorted. “We were literally just talking about that. It’s taboo, Greg.”

“You seem to have gained that talent as well,” Greg went on as if Toni hadn’t interrupted. He eyed the other three men, and Toni suddenly felt very, very uncomfortable.

“Hey, I don’t swing that way,” Arnie said, holding up his hands.

“I’m currently set,” Sam added.

Steve looked away. “There’s… I’m set.”

Sam and Arnie gave him comically incredulous looks, which, combined with the absurdity of it all, made Toni laugh.

She turned back to her brother, still giggling. “Greg, are you accusing me of having a harem?”

“Is it so unusual?” Greg asked, completely serious. “I’ve heard of such things.”

Toni wheezed for breath. “What, Witches building themselves a harem? Can’t say I’ve heard of that.”

“Surely you’ve heard of temple priestesses who had their own selections of lovers?” Greg pressed. “There were entire religions and holidays around sexual acts with these women.”

“Oh my god, Greg, have you been listening to daytime talkshow hosts?” Toni laughed even harder. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard! Yes, sex was sometimes part of early religion, and yes there is sex magick nowadays--”

“Ooooh,” Sam said, waggling his eyebrows ridiculously.

“--but temple priestesses most certainly did not have male harems, and that kind of thing isn’t especially prevalent! I mean, as long as everyone’s okay with it, I’d have no problem with it--”

“Isn’t that polygamy?” Steve asked, his expression unreadable.

“Polyamory,” Toni corrected him. “And I honestly don’t see why it’s so unacceptable, especially with individuals who are capable of that kind of devotion. It’s kind of sweet, really.”

“You’ve never?” Sam asked, and both Steve and Arnie swatted him on the arm. “Hey!”

“I’m a serial monogamist,” Toni answered. “I… tend to get stuck on a single person for a long while.” She shrugged, unconcerned. “I haven’t been a fan of one-night stands since my Academy days.” She hadn’t even had much of a love life since New York… The only notable man she’d dated had been Henry Hellrung, a solitary Witch who had come to town and stuck around for a few years. Henry had been sweet, but neither of them seemed to get that deeper connection that Toni really wanted. Plus, she wanted kids someday, and he didn’t. It had ended quietly; it had been a few years since he left for San Francisco, and by all accounts he was quite happy out there. She and Henry still spoke - Rhodey had actually been out there to deliver their Craftworks to him for dispersal on the Bay. He was a good business associate, and a good friend.

“This can’t be comfortable for your brother, discussing your sex life--” Steve protested.

“Lack thereof, Steve, and Greg brought it up!”

“I regret it,” Greg said blandly, and Toni burst into laughter again.

She got control of her giggles. “Okay, let’s drop it.”

Logan appeared in the aisle and shoved silverware wrapped in napkins and two menus at Toni and Greg. “Be right back.” He slunk off, looking irritated.

“Charming fellow,” Greg commented, and the Cravenswood natives all smirked.

“That’s our Logan,” Arnie said, almost admiringly. “Him and Herc, they keep this place running on sheer muscle and sweat.”

“Herc runs the kitchen and the brewery,” Toni said for Greg’s benefit. “He’s Logan’s partner in the business.” _Among other things,_  she added silently.

“Herc’s a softie,” Arnie stage-whispered. “Logan is as well, secretly. But no one bothers them because they’re both built like brick shithouses.”

“Interesting,” Greg said in a tone that told them he was only half-listening. He perused the menu.

“Get the beer-battered onion rings,” Sam suggested. He fluttered his eyes in ecstasy. “They are to die for, man.”

Greg hummed, and was just about to say something else when Logan reappeared at the foot of the table. “Stark. Strega,” he added, eyeing Greg. “Can we get your… assistance?”

Toni caught Steve’s glance, and he looked very concerned. “Of course, what is it?”

“It’s… it’s Kurt, could you…?”

“Oh, for sure, definitely!” Toni pulled her napkin off her lap and dropped it on the table as Greg slid out of the booth to let her get out. On the other side, Steve was sliding out as well. “Oh, Steve, you don’t have to--”

“Humor me,” he said.

Toni glanced at Logan, who shrugged.

“He’s upstairs,” he said gruffly as he led Toni and Steve through the backroom to the living quarters of the building.

“Shouldn’t he be in school?” Toni asked.

“Wasn’t feeling well.” Logan let them into the home’s kitchen, then shepherded them over to the winding staircase. “We thought he had the flu, at first, but…”

_Miertè_ , she thought as something spiky settled in her gut. _No, no no no no--_

Logan paused in the doorway to his foster son’s bedroom, then eased the door open. “Hey, kiddo, you feeling any better?”

There was a soft moan inside, and then an anguished voice whispered something that Toni didn’t catch.

“I brought Strega Stark up,” Logan said, waving her over.

“Steve, stay out here,” Toni said sharply, and Steve was apparently so shocked at her tone of voice that he froze in place.

Toni drew the Goddess circle on her forehead and slowly edged her way into the teenager’s bedroom. “Hey, Kurt,” she said gently. “I hear you’re not your usual energetic self?”

The dark-haired teen gazed at her, his eyes glazed over and his skin paler than usual. “Hallo, Strega Stark,” he said, and he coughed into his arm. “No, not really,” he added with a weak grin.

Logan stood stoically at the doorway as Toni edged further into the room, fighting the urge to panic. “I’m so sorry you’re not feeling well,” she murmured, settling onto her knees next to the bed. She put a hand to his forehead, and he was feverish and slick to the touch. To her utter lack of shock, she picked up the same sickly sense of _wrongness_  that she’d felt out on Clint’s property. _Miertè_. “I think you caught something that’s going around,” she told him. “You know Bobbi Morse, out on the Barton farm?”

“Mmm?” Kurt blinked at her hazily. “‘ws out there this week’nd,” he added slowly. “Kate says the… the cows’re sick…”

Toni closed her eyes. “Oh Ye Gods and Spirits,” she said under her breath, then she glanced at Logan. “Um, Kurt, I’m going to talk to your dad for a minute, and then Pepper and the Blakes are going to come by and try to get you better. All right?”

Kurt shrugged, his eyes already unfocused and half-mast. “‘right,” he mumbled.

Toni patted his hand and got to her feet. “Out,” she said. “I need a phone.”

They ended up in Logan and Herc’s kitchen, with Toni on the line with Darcy. “I need them here ASAP,” she said, her voice shaking. “Tell them that Kurt was on the Barton farm recently, and that he was exposed.”

“Is this the thing that they were freaking out about earlier with Clint and Bobbi?” Darcy asked, and Toni could hear keys clacking. “Wait, is there something serious going on?”

“Very. I need Jane and Thor out here, Darcy. You got it?”

“Sure thing, bosslady. I’ll get them to you right away.” Darcy hung up without even signing off, and Toni slowly replaced the handset on the cradle.

“So?” Logan demanded. “What’s going on?”

“Kurt was…” Toni bit her lip. “Kurt was exposed to a supernatural Plague. Several animals on Clint’s farm have caught it, and it’s beginning to spread to people as well.”

Steve’s eyes widened. “What?” He peered at her, and Toni felt shame wash over her, even though she had no reason to be ashamed. “When did you--”

“I literally only found out yesterday, and I was hoping it was only Bobbi that was sick from it, I swear,” she said, trying to contain her anxiety. “We were out on the farm last night trying to banish it, but…” she hesitated.

Logan slammed a fist down on the counter, making everything jump. He glared at her, and she pressed on.

“Well… a few of the animals have died from it,” she said weakly.

“You save my son,” Logan growled. “You…  _you save him_ \--”

“Logan, I’ve already called Jane and Thor, you just saw me. They were taking care of Bobbi last night, they can help Kurt, I promise you.” She dug into her jacket pocket and extracted two blessed medals. “You keep this on you and give one to Herc,” she said, handing them to Logan. “It’ll keep you from catching it in the meanwhile. And don’t let anyone up to see him, got it?”

Logan looked at the medallions and then at her, and nodded slowly.

She picked up the phone receiver and dialed the Potts-Hogan household. “Pick up pick up pick up,” she chanted under her breath, adding a twist of Power to her words. “C’mon, Happy, don’t let me down now.”

There was a click, and then Happy’s sleepy voice on the line. “H’lo?” He yawned in her ear.

“Happy, put Pepper on.”

“She just got up,” Happy said. “Can’t it wait?”

“Kurt Wagner caught the Plague from Clint’s farm,” she snapped, and she heard Happy breathe in sharply.

“Here.” There was the sound of the phone changing hands, and then Pepper was on the line. “What’s happening?” she asked, her voice high-pitched with stress.

“I’ve already called Jane and Thor,” Toni said. “How are your stocks?”

“They’re fine. I’ll… I’ll need to get into your place, into the conservatory…”

“Jarvis is around there, he’ll let you in.” Toni took a deep breath. “Pepper, if this is spreading to the community, we need to--”

“Yeah,” Pepper breathed. “Yeah, I know, yeah.”

“Pep--”

“We’re gonna get this fixed, you got it?” Pepper said, but she sounded scared, and it was backwards-- Toni should be the one reassuring _her_ \--

“Toni?”

She looked up, met Steve’s eyes. “Pep, do what you gotta do. Jane and Thor will be here soon.”

“Got it.” Pepper hung up, and Toni put the phone back on the cradle again. She closed her eyes and tried to get her breathing under control.

“Steve,” she said slowly. “Remember how we were in the woods the other day and we found that Workplace?”

“Yeah?” he asked warily.

“We need to find out whose Workplace that is, because I think they’re behind this Plague.” Toni fixed him with her most determined expression. “The only way we can get rid of it completely is if we banish whatever I sensed in Craven’s Woods that day.”

“You think that the Beastly One Summoned some kind of plague daemon?”

“No,” Toni shook her head. “The Beastly One summoned something so unnatural and so… disgusting and _wrong_  that its mere presence in this world is making nature warp and die. There are only a few classes of daemon that can do that.” She sighed. “I need to… make another call.”

“Phone’s all yours,” Logan said gruffly, still running his thumb over one of the medallions.

“Not of that sort,” Toni answered. She closed her eyes and felt her shoulder slump. “I need to call the Shadow Council in.”

“The Council?” Steve said sharply. “Why would you…?”

“Steve, this is getting out of hand,” she said weakly. “I need backup, and the Council… I don’t like it either, but I can trust at least one of them for sure--”

“I really don’t want them involved with town matters--”

“--it doesn’t matter, Steve, people are _dying_  and getting sick--”

“Toni!” Steve snapped. “I don’t want them anywhere near here!” He was visibly grinding his teeth, and Toni could see a tic in his temple. “They sweep in,” he said in a stilted tone. “They come in, they take over, they overrule the locals, and then they disappear with the perp, and I don’t--”

“Steve, I promise you, the people they take away are put away somewhere where they can’t harm others, and you wouldn’t want them in the county jail anyway.” Toni sounded dangerously close to begging to her own ears, and she swallowed thickly. “Steve, I don’t want them here either, but we have no choice--”

Steve’s eyes narrowed. “You’re _off_  the case, if I’m not mistaken--”

“Steve, I’m off the murder investigation. This is about the Beastly One and the Plague he’s caused, and if the Council happens to take out the murderer then are you really going to be sore about that?” Toni was incredulous.

Steve glanced at Logan, who was watching them with an unreadable expression, and sighed heavily. “I can’t stop you if you call them,” he eventually said, in the tones of someone suffering a massive defeat. “But dammit, Toni, I don’t like it!”

“Well, I’m sorry you don’t like it!” Toni snapped. “But sometimes we gotta do stuff that we don’t approve of for the greater good, and if there is anything I know it is that what I’m capable of should be put towards the greatest possible good, and right now that would be keeping Bobbi Morse and Kurt Wagner alive and well, _all right_?”

Steve stepped back, and Toni realized she’d been shouting. She unclenched her fists and forced her breathing to even out.

“Don’t hate me for this,” she whispered. “I don’t think I could live with myself if you hated me for doing this.”

“I…” Steve bit his lip, then turned on his heel. “I’ll leave you to it,” he said, in the tone of a defeated man.

“Steve?” Toni called after him, but he disappeared down the short flight of steps and back into the tavern.

“You two are _terrible_  at communicating,” Logan said gruffly, before he disappeared after Steve.

Toni fought the urge to scream in frustration, and instead picked up the phone again for one last call.


	10. Chapter 10

When Toni rejoined her party in the tavern, she immediately sensed a new tension that hadn’t been present before she’d departed.

“Hey,” Sam said, in a much more subdued tone. “So. Um.” He glanced at Arnie. “Why is Steve sulking? He just stormed out, didn’t even talk to us.”

Toni sighed heavily. “It’s complicated.”

“Does it have anything to do with the murders?” Greg asked mildly. He was nursing a beer, she noted.

Toni wanted to pull at her hair and rip it out. “I… I really don’t want to…” She trailed off, then shook her head. “Please, I just… I need your help,” she turned to Arnie and Sam. “There’s… there’s a Plague…”

“Excuse me?” Arnie asked, raising an eyebrow.

“A Plague,” Toni repeated. “A supernaturally charged epidemic. A bunch of animals on the Barton farm caught it and died, and Bobbi Morse and Kurt Wagner are exhibiting symptoms. I’m… scared that there may be more.” She looked at Steve’s friends. “I need you guys to keep an eye out for people that at first appear to have the flu.”

“This isn’t flu season,” Arnie pointed out.

“Exactly. Just keep an eye out nonetheless, and send them to the Blake clinic. Or send Jane and Thor out to them, just to be safe.” She slumped forward, exhausted. “I’ve asked Matt Murdock to spread the word as well.”

“What are _you_  doing about this?” Greg asked, finally meeting her eyes.

Toni hesitated. “I’ve… I’m calling on the Shadow Council, for help.” She shook her head again. “This is getting too big, too out-of-hand. I’m…”

“Hey,” Sam touched her elbow, getting her to look at him. “Hey, if you need to get help with this, you should.”

“Steve’s angry at me,” she admitted. “For calling the Council. He doesn’t like them.”

Arnie and Sam exchanged strange looks. “He’ll get over it,” Sam said firmly.

Toni edged away from them and turned to Greg apologetically. “I’m sorry this keeps happening, but I need to…” She jerked her head towards the door.

“No, I understand,” Greg said.

“Right.” She reached into her jacket and nodded to Sam and Arnie. “I’ll… I’ll see you later, I’m sorry.” She left them behind, and headed to the bar. “Logan?”

The man looked up from wiping a glass.

She handed him two twenties. “This is for Greg’s bill and mine. Keep the change, please.”

Logan glared at her.

“For Kurt,” she added.

Logan snatched the bills from her hand and handed one back. “The drinks’re on me,” he grumbled. “Just fix whatever’s going on.”

Toni decided to take what little victory she could and nodded. “I will,” she promised.

She hoped she was right.

The parking lot where she’d left her Model T was a block or so away from Logan’s, so she walked all the while squinting up at the steel-gray sky and wondering if it would ever rain.

_Hopefully not today,_  she thought ruefully, remembering that she hadn’t brought her umbrella.

She was thinking about it, and about the strange weather patterns of the past week, when something sharp and hard hit her in the back and sent her sprawling on the pavement.

She cried out in pain as something else hit her in the head.

“Witch! You cursed us!” a young voice shouted out, joined by others.

Toni scrambled to her feet and whirled around, fighting down the urge to react violently.

“First you bring sin to our town and now you kill us one by one?” One of the kids yelled at her, and Toni looked up to meet the preteen’s furious gaze. “You’re next, devil worshipper! Now you’re gonna get it!”

Something clicked in her head. “You’re Damien Sharpe, aren’t you?” she said, scowling at him. “Haven’t you heard that old saying about throwing stones?” She glanced at her watch. “Did you all skip out on school, too?”

“Shut up, Witch!” Damien shouted over her, and his friends fanned out into a line, making to encircle her.

Toni backed up, glancing around her. There were others, adults, watching silently but not intervening at all. _Why weren’t they doing anything?_

The kids started chanting, and Toni felt her heart speed up.

“ _Witch, Witch, you’re a bitch!_ ” the kids shouted, and some of them had rocks in their hands again. “ _Witch, Witch, you’re a bitch!_ ”

“Cut this out!” Toni yelled, looking desperately for someone to help her. “Come on, this is irrational!” She closed her eyes and begged, silently, _please, please send someone, please please please--_

“ _Witch! Witch! You’re--_ ”

“What the hell is going on here?”

Suddenly, Steve shoved through the line of adolescents and moved to block Toni from their aim. “Isn’t it a little early for middle school to be let out?”

“Shut up, freak!” Damien yelled, and the other kids began to squall as well.

“Antoinette!” Greg appeared behind the line of kids, his expression unreadable at that distance, and then a squad car squealed up on the road behind them.

Officers Cage and Knight climbed out, both of them with batons drawn. “Break it up, hey, _break it up!_ ” Cage shouted, and Knight shoved through them, catching Damien by the arm. The rest of his little gang scattered.

“Where do you think you’re going, kid?” she said blandly. She forcibly removed the rock in his hand and tossed it to Luke, who caught it with a very grim expression.

“He threw two more rocks at her,” Steve said, pointing at the stones in question. “Hit her twice, in the back and the head. Knocked her down.”

“You saw it, Rogers?” Cage asked, glaring at the kid.

“Yep. I was over there, across the street,” Steve pointed, and Toni rubbed at the back of her head where the second stone had hit.

“Looks like your mom is gonna get to tour the police station again, Damie,” Knight said, opening the squad car door and maneuvering him in.

“That bitch is killing us! Arrest her!” Damien screamed, pointing at Toni.

“Okay, first of all, shut up or I’mma wash that nasty mouth of yours out with soap. Second, you were the one committing an act of violence here.” Knight slammed the door shut on him and he howled and pounded on the glass.

Toni felt her heart pound even harder, and she looked at Steve, who was regarding her in concern. “I need to go home,” she said.

“You don’t want to press charges?” Cage asked.

Toni shook her head and was about to speak, but Steve broke in.

“I’m pressing charges,” he growled. “I saw it with my own two eyes.”

“Steve, he’s just a kid, he doesn’t know any better--”

“If my guess is right, he’s the one who broke your conservatory windows!” Steve pointed at the squad car, where the kid was still throwing a tantrum. “He’s old enough to know better, no matter what garbage his parents are spouting!”

“This is the individual that threw stones at your house?” Greg asked, and Toni jumped in surprise. She hadn’t realized he’d come up next to her.

Greg was glaring into the car, eyes narrowed, and the kid sneered back at him and flashed a vulgar gesture.

“I’ll press charges, Officers,” Greg said acidly. “He attacked my sister.”

“No,” Toni said harshly. “No, cut it out. This is only going to fuel all of this nonsense even more!”

“Toni, we need to make a point about this! This is unacceptable!” Steve raised his voice, clearly distraught.

“I agree with Detective Rogers,” Greg added, his face twisted into an ugly expression. “The little brat needs to learn.”

“I…” Toni wrung her hands. “I’m not pressing charges. Greg, don’t worry about it.”

“That little punk _hurt_  you!” Steve burst out, taking hold of her shoulders. “They would have killed you!”

“How do you know that?” Toni demanded. “They’re just kids, they don’t go that far, they wouldn’t have!”

“They would have, I just…” Steve stared into her eyes and sort of… deflated. “I… I just _knew_  you were in danger,” he mumbled. “They… they were out for your blood…”

“Steve,” she said, touching his arm. “Steve, I’m fine.”

“We still need you to come down to the station,” Officer Knight said. When Toni looked at her, she shrugged. “Standard procedure. You may not want to press charges but if this kid does this to someone else and goes a little further…” she trailed off, but Toni caught her meaning.

“I’ll report it, then,” she said. “But… I really don’t want him and his family any more pissed off at me.”

“I don’t think you can help that,” Cage pointed out.

“But I can choose not to add fuel to the fire.” Toni glanced at Damien, now sulking in the backseat. “I’ll report it, and then I need to go home.”

Steve’s expression turned stormy, but Cage and Knight both nodded. “Fair enough,” Knight said, and they got into their squad car.

“Need a ride anywhere?” Toni asked Steve, who shook his head.

“I’ve got my bike, I’m set.” He looked at her, as if he was going to say something, then abruptly closed his mouth and slunk off.

Toni stared after him, not sure if she would have wanted to know what he was about to say.

“Antoinette, I insist--”

Toni glanced at Greg, who still looked quite furious. “Greg, I will report it,” she said placatingly. “Don’t worry. You’re on vacation.”

Greg narrowed his eyes at her. “I agree with Detective Rogers. That brat needs to learn. Father would not have let him get off easily.”

“No, but I’m not like Father,” Toni answered quietly. “The cycle of violence and hatred has to be broken. It may as well be me that does it.”

Greg looked her over and nodded slowly before reaching into his pocket and extracting keys. “If you’re sure…”

“Positive.” Toni smiled tightly at him.

“All right, then,” he said, and he left.

From the squad car, Knight whistled lowly under her breath.

“That’s your twin brother?” Cage stared after Greg. “Wow, can’t see the resemblance.”

Toni shrugged and turned to unlock her car.

As expected, Miriam Sharpe and her husband were less than pleased that Toni was involved in their son’s latest trip to the CPD station. The fact that Damien had cut class over an hour and a half before the last bell was disregarded the minute his mother laid eyes on Toni, who was filling out a report at Cage’s desk.

“You!”

Toni flinched again. She didn’t quite understand why, but every time she managed to run into someone from Stryker’s church, she felt very, very threatened. Almost like she was confronting a particularly nasty rival from her past.

_Maybe there’s something to this whole belief-being-as-powerful-as-magick thing,_  she thought ruefully as the Sharpes stormed over to her, their faces twisted into matching looks of towering rage.

“ _Carillon d’inferno,_ ” she muttered, then hunched over the desk and turned her face away. “Get rid of them, Luke. Please.”

It was Officer Knight who got up and blocked Toni from the Sharpes with her body. “Your son is in the holding area,” she said. “He--”

“You brute!” Mrs. Sharpe shrieked at her. “How dare you lay a hand on my son!”

“Now, hey, wait.” And there was Sousa, limping up, looking a bit dumbstruck. “From all accounts, including that of Detective Rogers and Officers Cage and Knight, your son was committing assault at least--”

“Detective, I demand that you release him at once,” Mr. Sharpe snapped at him. “I am a tax-paying citizen and I don’t give you people my hard-earned money so you can treat my son in such a disrespectful manner.”

“I assure you, your son has been treated with the utmost respect, as much as he deserves. However, he was committing a crime.” Sousa glanced at Toni, who ducked her head again. “Strega Stark is not pursuing charges--”

That just set Mrs. Sharpe off again. As if spirits of rage had overtaken her, she dodged around Knight and seized a fistful of Toni’s hair with a cry of pure hatred and _yanked_. Toni screamed in pain and clutched at her hair as Mrs. Sharpe yelled over her, “ _You rotten scum-sucking devil worshipping hellspawn_ \--”

Immediately, Knight and Cage were on her, pulling her off Toni, and there was Peggy, adding her considerable strength to their endeavor, and Steve was instantly at her side, murmuring to her and gently touching her arm as she tried to get her breathing under control.

“What the hell is the matter with you?!” Knight bellowed, and the three of them manhandled Mrs. Sharpe away from Toni, who dropped her face into her hands and let out a dry sob.

“What… it was like something came over her…” Sousa said, dazed. He leaned down, carefully not bending his bad leg, and touched Toni’s shoulder. “You okay, Strega?”

Toni nodded, not trusting her voice. _Let this day end,_  she begged whatever might be listening.

Sousa straightened up and limped off, returning shortly with an ice pack. She took it from him gratefully and pressed it to the sore part of her scalp, as Steve and Sousa drew away to confer quietly.

_Should have brought Jarvis,_  she thought ruefully, gently probing the tender spot near her temple.

There were shrieks and hollers from the holding area, and suddenly a ton of officers were running over, and Sousa and Steve exchanged confused looks before heading toward the commotion. Toni watched them leave, her intuition telling her that whatever was happening, it wasn’t good.

Steve returned a few minutes later, very pale. “She started hitting her son,” he said, looking rather faint. “Peggy says that they marched her into the holding cell, she took one look at Damien, and then broke out of their holds and started slapping him and screaming at him.”

“He started hitting her back, too,” Sousa added, dazed. “I… I’m going to. Yeah.” He headed back to his desk and slung back his mug of coffee as the shouts and general noise continued from the holding cell.

The commotion picked up suddenly, and Steve and Toni looked at each other with matching expressions of horror.

“What in the name of all things good and pure--” Toni wondered, before Peggy limped out of the holding cell with an unreadable look on her face.

“Mr. Sharpe decided to get in on the fun and headbutted Luke.” She grabbed an incident report off of her desk and started filling it out. “It’s like something’s in the bloody water.”

“All this started with Tania McGee getting murdered,” Sousa grumbled. “I bet if we catch this sonuvabitch, we can get this town back to normal.”

“I hope you’re right,” Toni whispered. She closed her eyes and reached deeply into her psyche, feeling for the thread in her mind that was her bond with Jarvis. _Please don’t be angry with me,_  she Called. _I need you._

She was met with warm affirmation. _I could never be angry with you, Mistress,_  Jarvis sent back, and the nearest window creaked open. Jarvis sprang onto an abandoned desk and quickly streaked over to wind around her ankles, purring.

“Oh, thank goodness,” she gasped, gathering him into her arms and burying her face in his fur. “This day has been the absolute worst, the capper of the week.”

“So sorry to hear that, Mistress,” Jarvis said, rubbing his face into her forehead.

She took a moment to breathe, then got to her feet. “We’ve got Work to do,” she told her Familiar, setting him on the ground. She reached into her pants pocket and extracted her pouch of gems. A lump of raw quartz would do nicely for this.

“What are you up to?” Steve asked, eyeing the crystal in her hand.

“You all sensed it; this bout of rage isn’t natural.” Toni nodded at the holding cells. “I’m going to get to the bottom of this, at least.” She raised her eyebrows at him.

Steve glanced at the doorway to the holding cells and sighed. “Have at it,” he said. He still followed her through the crowd of shocked police officers, who parted like the Red Sea as she approached the cells.

Each of the Sharpes had been cuffed to the bars of their cells, in order to prevent them from getting close enough to hurt each other. There were four cells in total, and there was a cell between Damien and his mother. All three of them looked up at her with expressions dripping with the purest venom.

Toni gulped and then let her Sight filter through her physical eyes.

From a very early age, Toni had always been able to see in her mind’s eye the way that magick was crafted and spun; her mother would Work spells and Toni could peer into the space between spaces to see the way the ever-spinning circles and spheres of energy linked and wove into complex patterns. She’d always seen pinpoints of Power, the ambient energy of the world around her, and intuitively known how to draw them into charms. Most Witches couldn’t work outside of a Circle, without some sort of ritual or instruction or tradition, but Toni wasn’t most Witches. She knew how to look, so she looked.

And there it was: something was in the air around each of the Sharpes, like an oily cloud of bad intentions. Something cruel was feeding off of their rage and violence, that much she could muddle out. Fighting the urge to beat herself up over not checking their auras right off the bat, she glanced down at Jarvis.

The Familiar sat down next to her, and she reached for his stability. “ _Nelle nome dielle su’surava di paloma_ _Arrigella_ *,” she intoned, raising the quartz. “ _Ie comandé cie sarà la pax._ **"

The quartz began to pulse with a clean white light, and she used her left hand to trace out sigils in the air. The spell hung in the air around her, and suddenly she could see threads of some foreign influence, wrapped around and piercing the Sharpes through their auras and their chakras, twisting their minds and perceptions.

She blinked and the Sight was gone, so she raised the quartz even higher and continued with the spell. “ _Ie comandé cie sarà la pax! Tuo Immondo asì, parasi’ta dielle tinieblacce i crudel’ta, dovie’tes alcun Podera acuì!_ ***”

The pulsing became a steady shine, as bright as the sun that the town had been missing for so long, and Toni completed the spell with “ _A’così sarà!_ ”

There was a great flash, and then the light died down, leaving the quartz a regular rock.

Toni dropped the quartz back into her pouch and looked at the Sharpes, who were staring limply at her. “Feeling any better?”

Mrs. Sharpe shrank away from her, eyes wide and fearful. “What did you do to us?” she demanded.

Toni searched for the words that they’d be able to understand. “You had a… a curse placed on you,” she said slowly. “I took it off of you, so you’d stop attacking anyone that vexed you slightly.”

Mr. Sharpe looked especially bashful. “I attacked one of the policemen,” he muttered, hanging his head.

“Yeah, I can’t really fix that. All the curse did was make you aggressive towards anyone that annoyed you.” Toni shrugged. “I can vouch that you were under someone else’s influence.”

They eyed her suspiciously. “Whose influence?” Mr. Sharpe asked, his voice dripping with distrust.

Toni forced herself to smile. “I don’t quite know yet, but I intend to get to the bottom of it. Blessed be.” She turned on her heel and marched on out, Jarvis at her heels.

She had made it to the parking lot before Steve caught up to her.

“Toni!”

He managed to get in front of her and caught her arm. “Hey, where are you going? What happened back there?”

“Steve,” she said tiredly. “I’m going home to call the Council here. Something is severely wrong with this place, and I’m getting sick of stuff happening for no reason and people getting hurt.”

“That leaves the question of what just happened,” Steve pressed.

Toni massaged her forehead. “I noticed that they had some kind of… hate spell,” she said slowly. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It latched onto their anger and hatred, and then it provoked them into violence and fed off of it. I don’t know where it came from or who cast it, but it was very, very powerful.”

“But you got rid of it,” Steve pointed out.

“I’m the Head Witch of a coven, and a former child prodigy,” she answered, shrugging. “You don’t get to be like this without formidable powers of your own.” She didn’t mean for it to come out like bragging, but she refused to wince or flinch. It was true, after all.

Steve raised his eyebrows. “Could you be a target for all of this?”

“I’m starting to think I am, which is why I absolutely _must_  get ahold of the Council.” She crossed her arms. “I no longer feel that the coven can handle this by itself. We need backing.”

He raised his hands in surrender. “Toni, I already said you can do what you have to. I just…” He looked away and hesitated before he went on. “I don’t… trust the Council.”

“Steve, I don’t either. But I’m going to get in contact with the one member I know from my Academy days.” She waited until he looked at her again, then added, “There are a few people that are closer to my age on the Council now. The Old Guard is fading out.”

“They aren’t still bugging you to join?”

Toni bit her lip. “I haven’t been in contact in a while. I’m hoping they forgot.”

“That’s not likely,” Steve pointed out.

“I know.” Toni fell silent as Steve visibly fought down whatever urge to argue he still had.

He looked her in the eye again, and she could see a tic in his temple. Finally, he spoke: “Just remember where your loyalties lie, Toni.”

Toni stared at him, dumbstruck. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Steve didn’t answer, just brushed past her and stalked back into the stationhouse.

“Mistress.” Jarvis spoke up from her ankles. She looked down at him, and he seemed almost rueful. “I do not presume to influence your judgement, but I strongly urge that you take what you believe is the best possible action to resolve these conflicts.”

Toni looked back over her shoulder at the station doors, feeling a cold spike of sadness in her chest. “Is it worth it?” she asked.

Jarvis didn’t answer.

Toni settled herself into the center of her ring of candles and swept a hand over each unlit wick, a spark of Power following her hand and lighting the candles in a wave.

Jarvis sat poised next to her, like an Egyptian cat in a Pharaoh’s tomb. He was silent as Toni began to chant, eyes fixed on the glass ball sitting on the purple silk cushion in front of her.

Silently, she focused on her memories of her last encounter with Reed Richards and reached out through the aether, all the way to her previous home in New York City.

There was a long moment of silence, then it was like a call connecting, and the ball began to pulse before spitting out an image, a small window.

Reed's face swam into view, and wow he hadn't aged well. Two kids and he already had a few fingers' worth of gray at his temples. "Toni!" he exclaimed. "It's nice to hear from you!"

"Same here, Reed." It wasn't entirely, but Reed was one of the few New York Witches she kept up contact with. "How're Sue and the kids?"

"Fine, all fine," he grinned at her. "Sue took Alderrod's position on the council, and Franklin has begun his early learning program at home."

Toni was relieved; she had taken the Richards parents aside and begged them to not enroll either of their prodigy children in the Academy before they were old enough and thoroughly prepared. She'd cited her miserable experience as proof, and Sue had agreed easily with her.

She suddenly caught on to the first bit of what Reed had said. "Sue is on the Council now?"

"Yes, it's fantastic!" He beamed. "Clea and Agatha were pleased as well. Your invitation still stands," he added.

Toni frowned. "No, Reed."

"Are you still hung up on what your Detective Rogers would think?"

Ouch. Right to the point, no dancing around it, that was Reed Richards. "Reed, drop it."

"Well, Streghe Yinsen asks after you. He would be incredibly happy if you took his place--"

"Reed, I've got a Plague in my town. A bad one, some kind of pestilence."

Reed fell silent, and Toni pressed on. "Two citizens are already sick with it, and some livestock has died. There's also some kind of renegade Witch practicing in the area, along with a Cowan who seems capable of making spells work. And one of these people has been practicing Ritual killings, and using some kind of hate-mongering spell."

"Good grief," Reed commented, and though his tone was mild, Toni could tell he was shocked. "You want me to come out there? Assess it and report to the Council?"

"Please." Toni let her weariness loose into her voice. "I... my coven can't handle it alone."

Reed was silent, then he nodded. "The kids and Sue and I will be on the next flight out there."

"Let Sue arrange the traveling," Toni suggested. "Think of your children."

"They can come with--"

"I really do not recommend it, that one anti-Witch church is still around here and they're picking up their activity." Toni caught Reed's eye and gave him the most serious look she'd ever given him ever. "I don't care how smart they are, they do not need to be exposed to this kind of negativity."

Reed nodded slowly. "I suppose Ben and Johnny could watch them," he said.

"Yeah, do that." Toni sat back. "When can we expect you out here?"

"Tomorrow afternoon at the latest." Reed gave her a reassuring smile. "Sue and I will be prompt, and I'm sure we'll get this all sorted out before next week."

"Reed, don't jinx this." Toni recalled several instances from their time at the Academy during which Reed had projected optimistic and benign outcomes that had turned into more trouble than she'd ever dreamed possible.

Reed squinted at her. "I don't know what you mean."

"I'm serious, Reed. Words have power and this situation is dire."

Reed sighed. "Very well. I will see you shortly."

Toni closed the connection and extinguished the candles, rolling her shoulder and head to work out the kink in her neck. "I hope this is the beginning of the end."

Jarvis rubbed his head against her arm in agreement.

Thor showed up on her doorstep around sundown, weary and ragged. Woden held firmly onto his shoulder, looking like he'd flown through a tornado.

Toni let them in and settled her coven-brother and his Familiar in the kitchen with one of her own rejuvenating brews. "Just drink it," she said when he sipped at it and made a disgusted face. "It's good for you."

"Does Pepper have anything left around?" he grumbled.

Toni rolled her eyes. "You are such a baby!"

Thor half-heartedly sneered at her, and Woden cawed in a disgruntled way.

"So... Kurt?"

Thor sighed. "Quarantined," he answered morosely. "Herc and Logan are besides themselves. They're clean, and they both are holding onto those amulets you gave them."

"Good. What about the prognosis? For both Bobbi and Kurt?"

"We caught them early enough," Thor said, swirling his drink in the glass. "They'll feel like rubbish, but they will recover, I believe."

Toni traces meaningless scribbles on the counter. "I called Reed," she admitted.

"When is he to arrive?"

"Tomorrow, midday." She laid her head down on the countertop. "He asked me again."

"To take Yinsen's place on the Council?" Thor's face was impassive. He had approached the Council many times, asking to speak to his brother in their custody, only to be refused every time. "What did you say?"

"I refused."

Thor sipped on the brew, then said, "What if you _did_  join?"

Toni shook her head. "I can't."

Thor didn't press, just waited quietly, until the silence was too much to bear.

Toni sighed again, all of her stress and weariness getting to her. "I... I get these dreams." She shuddered. "Horrible dreams. Always have. I don't know what they're... where or when they're from. Another life? Another reality? I don't know. All I know is that they're all terrible."

"What happens?"

Toni looked Thor in the eye. "Someone we know... someone I care about... they always die." She breathed in, out, in, and went on. "There's one where the sky is the color of blood, and Steve and I are fighting, and he's so furious with me..." She wished desperately for a moment that Witches could cry. "There's one where I _am_  on the Council, but it's only a few people and they're all so broken, and we attack Steve and he hates me for it..." She fell silent.

Thor waited. He was good at that.

"There's one where Steve dies because of me," she whispered finally. "He dies hating me, Thor."

"Steve could never hate you, Toni." Thor patted her arm. "You two have history. You're kindred spirits."

"But is it enough?" Toni asked in a hollow voice. "I mean, he follows the Catholic Church--"

Thor cut her off, pointing right at her nose. "One, don't even start. Sarah Rogers raised him and she loves you, so Steve has no problem with Witches. And two, Matt was directly trained by the previous Father, so the church in this town has been like this since they were kids. That argument is invalid." He steepled his fingers. "A more valid argument is the fact that you two have such different viewpoints and problem-solving methods, but I'd rebuttal with the fact that it makes you two a good team. You challenge and compliment each other."

"Thor--"

"The question is, do you roll over too easily for him? I can't say I agree with all of the decisions and rulings of the Council, but I also can't deny that the Witches of the world _need_  a governing body. Who would hold us responsible when the Gods and Spirits rarely intervene? But that's for another philosophical debate." Thor's piercing blue eyes, the color of the high stratosphere above a crackling storm, met hers. "Toni, if you joined the Council, you would have a say. You could influence a more harmonious cooperation with the Cowan law. Goddess knows you've picked up a thing or two over the years. This kind of integration into Cowan society could only aid you in changing Witch-Cowan relations for the better."

"But what if I'm not strong enough?" Toni demanded. "I mean, look at Steve. Steve always sticks to his ideals, he never sways from his beliefs. He's known me for a decade and still unquestioningly puts his soul into Christ's hands, what does that tell you about his character? His moral fiber?"

"But he is also uncompromising." Thor fixed her with a very serious look. "How long have you hesitated in calling for the Council because of his dislike for them? How many times were we forced to cobble magickal solutions together because we didn't seek help from outside the coven? I admire Steve, I consider him one of my truest friends, but I do dare to disagree with him once in a while, because no man, Witch or Cowan, is always right about everything."

"Well, if there was anything close to being the opposite to that, it's me," Toni replied glumly.

"You need to stop doubting yourself." Thor poked her shoulder. "No one in this coven would have thrown their lot in with you if we didn't believe you could lead us. You have headed this coven with wisdom and dignity for a decade. If you were as much of a failure as you believe you are, we would have booted you out years ago."

Toni laughed tiredly. "Thank you, Thor."

"Of course, Toni. Anytime."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * "In the name of the dove-whisperer Arrigella,"  
> ** "I command there be peace."  
> *** "Unclean One, you parasite of darkness and cruelty, you have no power here!"


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See endnotes for warning. (Spoilers)

There was something in the house.

Toni was out of bed and stumbling for the door the minute her eyes snapped open. It took an uncomfortably long time, but she threw the door open and launched herself into the hallway just in time to see a ragged cloak or shawl whip around the corner.

"Get out of my home!" she hollered, chasing after it.

She ran into the drawing room, and the moonlight streaming in through the picture window was blood red.

( _you used me_ )

The window shattered in gale-force winds

( _yes, and I'd do it again_ )

Toni screamed and dropped to the floor as the glass embedded itself in the brocade wallpaper behind her. _Is it a tornado? But it isn't the season for it..._

The intruder glided in front of her but she couldn't get a good glimpse of them, and they disappeared back into the hallway.

Toni dashed down the hallway, and the walls seemed to glow from within but they flickered as the intruder brushed past them. Toni felt her chest becoming tighter, her breathing labored. Her mouth was dry.

The floor under her feet began to buckle and sway like a waterbed, and she stumbled and lurched through her house as the figure down the hallway disappeared into another room.

She burst through the door and froze.

The sight that greeted her was of her parents’ bedroom, the one from the mansion back in New York. There were two figures in the canopied bed, wrapped in the sheets even though it was too warm for the thick covers.

She immediately shrank in on herself. Howard didn’t like being awakened in the middle of the night for trivial reasons.

_\--but something’s no_ t **right** \--

The intruder leaned over Mama’s sleeping form, huffing a raspy, rattling breath of interest. _Huhhhhchhhchhhchhh,_  it wheezed.

“Get away from them!” Toni screamed. She reached for her Power, for Jarvis, but--

_Where is Jarvis?!_

Her Familiar was nowhere to be found.

“Jarvis!” she shrieked as the intruder rounded on her, and she got a good look at it.

The _thing_  hissed at her and tilted its skeletal head, empty eye sockets glittering with some strange light, as it glided forward in midair, gauzy batlike wings streaming behind it like torn spiderwebs. It reached out a bony, clawed hand, and Toni _screamed_ \--

Something hard landed on her chest, and Toni woke up. She sat up in bed, breathing harshly, and clutched at her chest. Her hand fell over the blue tattoo from ten years ago, the tattoo that had kept her heart beating despite the terrible curse placed on her years ago.

She looked around her, and caught sight of Jarvis sitting to her side, gazing at her in bare concern.

“Mistress?” he asked tentatively.

“Just…” She breathed, tried to swallow despite her dry throat. “Just a nightmare,” she finally said, flopping back in bed and trying to calm her pounding heart.

“Another one?” Jarvis crept onto her torso and curled up, paws tucked neatly under his body. “That’s the fourth one this week.”

Toni closed her eyes. “What time is it?”

“Three in the morning.”

“Right. Back to sleep.”

The doorbell rang around eight-twenty in the morning, and Toni was already up. She probably looked like absolute crap, and she certainly felt like it.

Not even caring that she was in her rattier pajamas without a robe, she answered the door while still clutching her mug of coffee, which had gone lukewarm. She was already musing about sticking it in the microwave when Steve shouldered the door the rest of the way open and he and Peggy marched in.

“What the ever-loving _fuck_ \--”

“See, I told you!” Peggy gestured at Toni. “Would she be dressed like that if she had guests?”

“Yes,” both Steve and Toni said in unison. Toni took a sip from her mug and made a face at the temperature.

Peggy rolled her eyes and sighed. “Toni, are your out-of-town guests here yet? Steve was antsy about intruding.”

“I was not _antsy_ \--” Steve snapped.

Toni blinked, confused. “Reed and Sue don’t land until ten. They should be in town by eleven.”

“This is a good thing,” Peggy insisted.

Steve scowled but said nothing.

Toni looked between them. “What happened?”

Both detectives winced. “Toni, you aren’t going to want to go into town today,” Peggy said quietly.

“In fact, don’t leave your house,” Steve added.

Toni frowned at them. “And that’s because…?”

They both hesitated.

Toni took another sip from her mug as she waited.

“Damien Sharpe went missing last night,” Peggy finally said.

There was a loud crash and a splash - Toni had dropped the mug from her senseless fingers.

“Jesus!” Peggy said while Steve rushed forward and pulled Toni away from the mess. “Bloody hell, Stark, this is no time for theatrics!”

“Try hysterics,” Steve said as Toni began to hyperventilate. “Oh, shit.”

Toni shrieked once, then wailed wordlessly - the only appropriate response that her brain would allow between the feedback loop of _he’s dead, he’s dead, he’s dead_ and  _they’ll think I did it, they’ll think I did it, they’ll think I did it_ \- and went limp as every muscle in her body gave out at once.

“Take her into the parlor,” Peggy commanded.

“No!” Jarvis appeared on the staircase. “To her bedroom, Detectives.” The Familiar streaked downstairs and hightailed it into the kitchen. “Detective Carter, fetch something for me.”

“What is it?” Steve demanded.

“A calming draft,” Jarvis answered. “Detective Carter!”

Peggy hurried into the kitchen after Jarvis as Steve got Toni in a bridal carry and carried her up the stairs.

Steve had to force the draft down Toni’s throat and coax her into swallowing while Peggy locked down the manor and cleaned up the broken coffee mug mess. Jarvis had disappeared to alert the rest of the coven, and reappeared within an hour so he could curl up beside Toni as the potion did its work and put her into a semi-drugged state of induced calmness. She hated the calming draft - it felt too much like narcotics, or being drunk.

Peggy came into her bedroom and spoke with Steve - Toni wasn’t with it enough to really hear what they were saying - and then departed, and Steve was sitting next to her, stroking her hair--

_I’m still dreaming,_  Toni thought blearily. _This is still my nightmare. Has to be._

“How come I’ve never seen you cry?” Steve said quietly, and Toni frowned.

“‘sssilly,” she mumbled, her lips feeling fat and uncooperative. “Witches can’t cry.”

“Always thought that was an old wives’ tale. You all can’t cry as in you won’t let yourselves, or…?”

“Can’t,” she repeated. “Never could. Always wanted to.”

“Trust me,” Steve said, with a hint of a smile in his voice. “I’d be happy to never cry again.”

“Why? I’doesn’ make y’weak.” She wanted to roll over to face him, but her arms felt heavy and this was nice, laying like this, with Steve’s hand in her hair. “Too man’ times,” she breathed, her voice losing pitch and becoming more gravelly. “Too man’ times I felt like sssshhhit and th’ only thing proper t’do was cry, and I couldn’ do it.”

“Shhhh,” Steve pushed errant curls back off of her forehead. “Try to sleep.”

“Can’ sleep,” she protested wearily. “Gotta… gotta stop this… bad shit…” Her eyelids drooped as the potion really kicked in. “Keep… my town… safe…”

Steve hummed, and that was the last thing she remembered before it was lights out again.

The ringing of a phone made her snap awake once more. She sat up, launching Jarvis across the bed, and scrambled out from under the covers.

The phone on her bedside table was on its third ring when she snatched it off the cradle. “H’lo?”

“Toni? Toni, please tell me you haven’t left your house since last night?”

Pepper. Toni blinked as she tried to rearrange her thoughts into something resembling order. “Uh, I think so?” She concentrated. “I spoke to Reed, Thor came over and we talked, then I went to bed.”

“What time did Thor come over?”

“Uh, right after sunset. Seven-thirty? Eight?” Toni shrugged. “Why?”

“Because Detective Thompson just left my house after questioning my whereabouts last night. We need to establish an alibi for you, Toni--”

It all came rushing back to her, and she sat down _hard_  on the floor. “They found him,” she whispered.

Pepper sounded as bad as she felt. “Damien Sharpe was found in in the woods just an hour ago. They didn’t say, but… I think the killer got to him.”

The phone fell from her hands, which were tingling like they’d fallen asleep. She heard Pepper shouting but couldn’t… think--

“He’s just a kid,” she whispered, her voice wavering. “He’s just… _why?!_ ” she screamed, tilting her head back. “ _Why are you doing this to me?!_ ” Her hands curled into fists without any input from her brain, and she pounded them against her head. “Haven’t I repaid my debt?” she demanded hysterically. “Haven’t I given enough? _Why are you still punishing me?_ ”

The door slammed open, and Steve charged in after Jarvis, who must have left to go fetch him. “Toni? Toni, what happened--”

“The phone-- Mistress--”

Toni screamed again, a long wordless howl, and began to rock back and forth. Steve dropped to his knees in front of her and drew her into a tight hug.

Toni fell silent, shocked, as Steve began to rub her back comfortingly. “Shh,” he breathed in her ear. “Shh, you need to calm down. Tell me what happened.”

“You think I did it,” Toni babbled, twisting in his hold. “I wouldn’t-- I wouldn’t have-- he was a _brat_  but he didn’t deserve to die!”

Steve swore under his breath and pulled away so he could pick up the phone. “Strega Potts?”

Toni heard Pepper on the other end, but couldn’t make out what she said, and Steve grimaced.

“I had to drug her,” he growled into the receiver. “She flipped out before, when she found out he was missing.” He paused as Pepper responded. “I don’t think I’d advise that.” Another pause. “She won’t be alone, that Richards guy is here.”

“Reed?” Toni swiveled to stare at the open door and scrambled to her feet, ignoring Steve’s protests behind her. Her footsteps pounded on the hardwood in the hallway, and then she ran right into Susan Richards on the stairs.

“Toni? Toni, you look awful--”

“Sue!” Toni threw herself into Sue’s arms, and the other Witch patted her awkwardly. “Oh, Sue, everything is _terrible_  please tell me you can help me please tell me you can fix it I don’t know what to _do_ \--”

“Toni? Maybe you should--” Reed appeared over Sue’s shoulder, looking at her oddly. “Maybe we should all get off the stairs…?”

“They must hate me,” Toni said, her voice dragging, as Sue and Reed took her by the arms and guided her down to the ground floor. “The whole town must hate me now. They think I killed a kid, a kid _died_  and they think I did it--”

“That’s probably not true--”

The doorbell rang, and Sue and Reed exchanged frightened looks over Toni’s head.

“Shit,” Steve said, quickly descending the staircase and herding them into the parlor. “Shit, shit shit shit shit shit, that’s probably Thompson.”

“Fuck me sideways with a _cactus_ \--” Toni ground out, ignoring Sue’s surprised gasp, and Steve manhandled her into a chair.

“You stay right here,” he commanded in a low voice. “You two keep her here. Do not let her come out of this room.” He disappeared into the foyer and closed the door behind him.

Sue took Toni’s hand and rubbed it comfortingly, and Reed made a quiet, confused noise as they all stared at the door, all waiting. For what, Toni was sure none of them knew.

Then, there were voices behind that closed door. And they were loud.

“You are as good as  _off this case_ , Rogers!” Thompson bellowed, and the wooden door did little to muffle it. “You have a conflict of interest, and Dooley wants you back at the station _right now_ , because he _trusts me_  to interrogate her proper--”

“ _You listen to me!_ ”

Toni flinched, because Steve didn’t often raise his voice. Usually when he was angry, he kept eerily calm, with a dangerously silky tone of voice that let you know how controlled his temper was. She’d heard stories from Arnie and Peggy about his temper, about how he’d get into fights as a teen, had been forced into anger management in college. She knew intellectually that he’d never hurt her… but hearing him shout was terrifying…

“You can’t be trusted on this case either,” Steve was snapping. “You’re looking for any reason to pin this on a Witch, so maybe we should go discuss this with Chief Dooley and see what he thinks is best, because I don’t think he sent you out to interrogate the town coven at _all_!!”

Thompson’s voice dropped so that they couldn’t hear it, but Toni could sense him seething from the foyer.

“Really?” Steve said sharply. “Is that the case? Call him up, I wanna hear it from him.”

“Fuck you, Rogers!” Thompson yelled. “You’re gonna lose your badge for this!”

“Yeah? You’re gonna lose _yours_!”

Toni buried her face in her hands as the detectives yelled at each other for a bit longer, and then the front door slammed.

Sue and Reed exchanged another look over her head, and Reed crept to the door and eased it open. “They’ve both gone,” he reported.

Toni let out a string of curses in Veritan, causing Sue to jump.

“Toni,” Sue hissed. “Don’t speak about your grandmother that way!”

“ _That’s_  what you’re going to focus on?” Toni demanded. “My swearing? And not the fact that I’m a suspect in a _serial killer investigation_?”

“You’re not officially a suspect,” Reed piped up. “Detective Rogers mentioned that.”

“Okay, _fine,_  they suspect the entire coven,” Toni amended acridly. She froze, then pointed at Reed. “Wait. How long were you two talking?”

“Oh, just a few minutes,” Reed shrugged.

Sue nodded.

Toni processed this, then mentally put it aside. “Okay. Gonna deal with that when I come to it.” She got up out of her chair and pushed past Reed into the foyer.

“Toni?”

The Richardses followed her as she stalked over to the staircase. “I’m going to go put some real clothes on, and then we are going to track this fucker down and drag him in,” Toni announced, stomping up the stairs. “I am _sick_  of this asswipe one-upping me and I’m going to put a stop to this, I’m going to neutralize his Work, and I’m going to throw him out of my town. Maybe even kick his ass for good measure.”

“I can get down with that,” Sue said mildly.

“I much prefer this to hysterics,” Reed muttered.

Toni glared at him, then slammed the door to her bedroom.

Reed was the rare breed of Witch that had never Summoned a Familiar. Sure, he Summoned daemons - Herbie the imp was one of his favorites - but never one to forge the Binding with. Some Witches found that uncomfortable, but Reed had done well for himself - he’d met Sue a few weeks into her university time, a year after he’d graduated, and they’d bonded over the fact that neither had ever managed the Summons. Now look at them - Sue had just entered her third year on the Council, and Reed had been on it for eight. The two of them were members of the most respected coven in New York, and their children were prodigies.

The times, they were a-changin’.

Toni and Jarvis led the way back to the Beastly One’s Workplace and the looks on Sue and Reed’s faces would have been hilarious if it weren’t for the fact that the Beastly One had probably murdered a child barely twelve hours earlier. As it was, Toni was grim and tired, ready to be free of her living nightmare, so she and Sue and Reed joined hands and started Working.

“He’ll feel that,” Sue said as they uncovered the Circle that had held the probable rogue daemon. “He’ll feel that and come calling, for sure.”

“We’ll be waiting,” Toni agreed. “I’m bringing out anyone I can get. We’re ending this.”

“Looking forward to it,” Reed said.

“Mistress,” Jarvis spoke up. “I do believe it is time for you to eat something. You never had breakfast.”

Toni grimaced. “Jarvis, this was important.”

“I understand that, but I also understand that humans are in need of nourishment through the ingestion of food substances.”

Sue snorted. “Jarvis is right. Let’s get you something to eat.”

“My place,” Toni said. “My house. I know for a fact that it’s safe there.”

“Safe?” Reed repeated. “Have you been feeling unsafe?”

“I get the feeling that it would be unwise for me to show my face around town. I had a… confrontation with the murdered boy and his family yesterday.” Toni began to pick her way across the moldy ground, Jarvis in her wake. “Hence, all the suspicion.”

“That certainly doesn’t help,” Reed agreed.

They emerged from Craven’s Woods at the entrance to the park and headed for Toni’s Model T, but Toni stopped and threw her arms out to catch Reed and Sue. “Wait.”

“Wait?”

Toni nodded, then cleared her throat. “Who’s there?” she called, as authoritatively as she could manage.

There was silence, and then people emerged from behind various cars in the lot.

Toni swore under her breath. She didn’t recognize all of them, but her gut instincts told her that they were of Stryker’s flock. “Sue, Reed, go back into the woods. See if you can’t make contact with the Fae.”

“Who are these people?” Sue demanded.

“That church I mentioned.” Toni’s heart began to pound, and she fought down the panic. “They’re bad news. Get out of here, now.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Reed hissed. “We’re not leaving you alone!”

“Reed, you have kids!”

“And I am of the Council! We both are!”

“Well, well, well,” said one of the men, cracking his knuckles. “If it isn’t the town Witch, coming back to the scene of the crime.”

“Scene of the crime?” Toni repeated, then mentally kicked herself. She’d never gotten the location of the discovery of the body from Steve and Peggy. _Miertè. Wouldn’t there have been yellow tape?_

“What’re you doin’, wanderin’ around these woods?” another one of the men demanded.

“Putting an end to this,” Reed said, a tad pompously. “I am a member of the governing body of Witches, and I’ve been… dispatched to stop this… madness.”

The church members all exchanged meaningful glances, and then one of the women screamed and pointed. “She has brought more sin into this town!”

“Not this again,” Toni groaned, and the rest of the mob began to shout and chant.

“Sin?” Sue repeated. “As in Christian sin?”

“General sin, I’m not entirely sure this is a Christian group anymore.”

“Drat,” Reed muttered. “I was hoping they’d be…”

“Impressed?” Toni supplied.

“No, appeased.” Reed looked nervous. “I mean, I’m the law compared to you--”

“They barely recognize Cowan law.” Toni eyed the squabbling mob. “ _Carillon d’inferno,_  I told you two to run.”

Sue took hold of Toni’s arm. “Toni, we can argue self-defense--”

“Not with the coven under suspicion.” Toni shook her head. “No magick. No Power. We can’t fight them. It wouldn’t be right.”

“Now is not the time to be the better person! Be the better person when your life isn’t in danger!”

“They will not harm Mistress,” Jarvis growled, and Toni shushed him.

“Whoa! Hey there, hey there, all!” A nasally drawl echoed around the clearing, and then Reverend Stryker himself strolled up, another man with him. The Reverend came to a stop in front of his flock and raised his eyebrows. “Strega Stark. What brings you to this tainted ground?”

“Trying to clean it, Stryker,” Toni answered carefully. “Whatever’s roaming these woods is a danger to Witch and Cowan alike, surely you realize that.”

Stryker barked out a laugh. “But did you not summon it to these parts?” he asked condescendingly. “Bit late to stuff the genie back in the bottle, i’nt it?”

“I did no such thing,” Toni said weakly, but the crowd began to holler and jeer again.

“Be gone, Witch!” one of the women shrieked.

Another man chimed in. “Leave us be for once!”

“We’re going to pay our respects to our fallen son,” Stryker said, his smile cold. “I doubt that’s what you were here to do.”

“I already told you, I’m trying to get rid of what’s--”

“That’s enough,” Stryker said, and the mob became louder.

Toni’s eyes widened, and then she narrowed her eyes and swept her Sight over the crowd. “There’s some kind of a hate spell on this congregation,” she said to Reed and Sue, who both blinked.

“By the Gods, you’re right,” Sue breathed.

Reed’s face was impassive. “And I know who did it.” He strode forward, past Toni and Sue, and right up to the crowd.

Both Toni and Sue yelped and called out to him, but he brushed past Stryker and caught the man behind the reverand by the collar, hauling him forward.

The other man was tall, with a shaved head and a mean look to him. He sputtered when Reed got hold of him and dragged him out into the No Man’s Land between the groups.

“Hello, Karl,” Reed said lowly. “Fancy seeing you all the way out here.”

The man pulled away from Reed and glared daggers at him. “Richards.”

“Oh, my god,” Sue shrieked, storming forward. “Karl Kimmel, you rotten piece of--”

“Wait!” Toni caught Sue’s arm. “Wait, wait, what in seven hells?”

“This bastard is responsible for several magically-induced riots in New York City,” Reed said, glaring at the man. “I should also mention that he is a Nazi and put Hitler’s late research into practice to achieve this effect. We call him the Hate Monger.”

Toni stared at the tableau before her. “You… wait, did you excommunicate him from the New York covens?”

Sue and Reed nodded. “How did you know?”

“You!” Toni pointed as she made the connections in her mind. “You know who the Beastly One is! You’re the one helping him in the woods!”

“Brother Karl is a valued member of this community,” Stryker snapped.

“He’s a Witch!” Toni looked imploringly at the assembled church members. “He’s been using hate magick on you all!”

“No, that’s _you_!” one of the mob roared, and a rock whizzed past Toni’s head.

“We do not have _time_  for this!” She growled and dug into her pocket for her quartz again. "Sue, Reed, throw your weight behind me."

The Richardses drew back and Toni raised the quartz. " _Ói’eme, Arrigella!_ "

Suddenly, Kimmel roared like an enraged bull and shoved Stryker aside. He began to chant in German and sway, and the mob behind him swayed as well.

"Ye Gods, he's channeling them," Sue breathed.

" _Arrigella!_ " Toni screamed. " _Ói’eme!_ " She reached for the brightness of Sue and Reed's Power, and pushed it into the crystal. " _Anulla esti incanto, e darsià la pax!_ *"

Kimmel bellowed something, and fog swirled around him, snaking out of the woods, congealing behind him. Next to Toni, Jarvis hissed.

Reed yelled, and Toni _twisted_  her hold on the spell. The crystal emitted a bright radial wave of white energy, which swept over them all like a shockwave and knocked Stryker and his followers on their asses.

Kimmel still stood, spitting curses and pushing the hate energy he'd gathered from his spell into the fog, which had begun to take a familiar shape.

"That looks like a hydra!" Sue gasped. "He got into Schmidt's work--"

"I don't really care what he's into, I want him _out of my town!_ "

Sue pulled Toni away as Reed gathered his Power back into himself and whipped a spell of his own at Kimmel, who dodged easily. The shocked church members scattered away from him, but didn't cut and run as both men drew wands from their sleeves and began to Duel in earnest. No words were uttered, just the lobbing of sparks and Power at the other.

The fog-hydra reared back to attack, and Sue raised her hands, palms flat and fingers spread. Her shields rose, and the conjured hydra slammed into them and dispersed to the winds, shredded apart.

Reed, through a series of complicated wand maneuvers, gained the upper hand and called ropes of energy out of the ground to wrap around Kimmel's ankles. He fell face-forward as the binds wound around his body, effectively restraining him, and then Reed was there to press his wand into Kimmel's forehead and shout a Binding spell that would nullify Kimmel's abilities.

Toni glared at the bound man. "We need to bring him into the police station," she said. "I want to get the Beastly One's identity out of him."

"Fuck you!" Kimmel spat at her.

Toni examined her nails. "No thanks."

"Carol would be useful," Sue commented airily.

"Mmyep." Toni and Reed manhandled Kimmel onto his back, and Toni waved for Jarvis. "Fetch Carol," she told him. "Tell her it's about the murder case."

"Of course, Mistress." Jarvis streaked away, dodging dizzy church members, and disappeared down the road.

"See?" Reed said to Toni. "Wrapped up before sundown. I didn't jinx us at all!" He hummed in a self-satisfied way.

Toni and Sue exchanged wary looks. "Oh, _miertè,_ " Sue muttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for the off-screen death of a child.
> 
> * "Hear me!... Annul this spell, and give us peace!"


	12. Chapter 12

The look on Steve’s face when Toni and Reed hauled Karl Kimmel into the police station was hilarious - a cross between bewilderment and annoyance.

Then, Stryker followed them in, yelling the whole time.

“What the hell is this?” Dooley demanded.

“You remember how Mr. Sharpe headbutted Officer Cage?” Toni asked, roughly shoving Kimmel forward. “He’s the one behind it.”

“That hate spell?” Thompson asked sarcastically.

“I can confirm,” Reed said. “The Shadow Council in New York excommunicated Karl Kimmel from the local covens a little over a month ago. He disappeared before a full trial could commence.”

Dooley held up a hand for silence and squinted at Reed and Sue. “Who are you, exactly?”

“High Councilman Streghe Reed Richards and High Councilwoman Strega Sue Richards,” Toni said by way of introduction. “I called them in from New York to assist in the the case of the strange Summoner in the woods who seems to be causing a dangerous Plague.”

“And not the murder case?” Steve asked, looking at Toni strangely.

“That’s out of my hands,” Toni said. “You told me so yourself.”

Steve grimaced.

“In any case, Mister Kimmel here has been practicing a perverted form of the Craft. It was a mistake on my part that I didn’t notice sooner, but he’s been quite discreet, utilizing Reverend Sryker’s… unique church style to channel his Working.” Toni glared at Kimmel, who glared back at her. “We figured that the detective on the Tania McGee case would want to question one of the original suspects on that case.”

“If you’re referring to Rogers,” Dooley said mildly, “You can forget it. Rogers and Carter have been taken off the case due to conflict of interest. Sousa is heading the McGee case.”

“Great.” Toni nodded to Sousa, who blinked. “If you wish to procure the services of Strega Danvers in getting the truth out of Kimmel, she’s on her way.”

“I’d appreciate that, actually,” Sousa said. He jerked his chin towards the interrogation room in the back. “Chief, I’d like to invite Strega Stark and her colleagues to assist with this unpleasantness with the random acts of violence that we’ve been seeing.”

Dooley glared at his detective. “Request denied.”

“But--”

“Strega Stark had direct confrontations with two of our victims. Once would be bad enough but the fact that Damien Sharpe disappeared the very night he attacked Strega Stark does not speak well to that.”

Behind Dooley, Thompson smirked and Steve bristled.

Stryker shoved past Toni and stormed up to Dooley. “I demand you arrest she who brought sin unto this clean town!”

“I concur,” Thompson piped up from the background.

“Quiet, Thompson!” Steve barked.

Dooley said nothing.

Toni stared at Dooley, and then at the assembled police force behind them. Save for a few people, a lot of them were glaring right at her. Most of the officers present had probably heard her threaten Krzeminski… _she was as good as a cop killer to them._

Dooley gave her a calculatedly impassive look, then faced the room at large. “Sousa, you are not to consult Strega Stark or any of her coven on your case. Romanoff, assist the Council folks in securing their fugitive. The rest of you, get back to work.” He turned and disappeared back into his office, and the officers and assembled city workers dispersed.

Natasha gave Toni an apologetic look and nodded to Sue and Reed. “Right this way.” She guided them and their suspect through the bullpen and into the back of the building.

They departed, and Toni was left alone in the reception area. She glanced at Rose, who quickly looked away and refused to meet her eyes.

Toni felt her entire body go cold. She hunched her shoulders and turned to leave.

“Toni. Wait--” Steve was suddenly next to her, hand on her arm. “Hey, wait--”

“I am not welcome here,” Toni hissed. “Let me take my leave.” She jerked her arm out of his grasp and strode for the doorway, and the remaining people in her path parted like the proverbial Red Sea.

 

She was stress-baking in the kitchen of her empty, lonely manor, Jarvis perched on the front staircase bannister as lookout, when Wanda’s Astral appeared in front of her.

_Toni,_  her cousin said, with a heartbreakingly sad expression on her face. _Please let us in._

“Mistress?” Jarvis called from the foyer, and Toni put down her whisk and hurriedly wiped her hands on the towel to her side before hurrying into the front hall.

She opened her door to find Pietro, Wanda, their Familiars, and Wanda’s sons standing on her doorstep. It had started to drizzle, and the boys were clutching wet backpacks.

“What--” Toni stepped back to let them in. “What happened?”

“We were evicted,” Wanda said quietly, looking like she wanted to cry.

Toni blinked. “ _Why?_ ”

“Officially because we disturbed the peace,” Pietro said in a silky voice that meant he was very, very angry. “But in actuality because we are Witches.”

Hermes, perched on the porch railing, ruffled his wings and let out a furious screech.

“ _Carillon d’inferno_ \--” Toni looked at the four of them in abject horror, before her eyes fell on the bedraggled and somewhat sullen twin boys. “Billy, Tommy, why don’t you go into the kitchen with Jarvis?” she said in a gentle voice. “Jarvis, show them where the gingersnaps and milk are.”

Tommy immediately made for the kitchen, but Billy threw his arms around her waist and whispered his thanks to her before following his brother.

“Where are your things?” Toni asked her cousins.

“In the van,” Wanda said in a strained voice. “We didn’t own any of the furnishings.”

“Okay, obviously you’re staying here with me. Let’s get all your stuff inside and get you settled into bedrooms.” Toni gently patted her cousins on the shoulder, and they both seemed to wilt a little.

Pietro smiled wryly. “At least I’ll get a bedroom this time.”

Wanda laughed, a high-pitched, borderline-hysterical laugh, and then the three of them set out into the light rain to unpack the ratty old van sitting in the driveway.

 

An hour later, and Toni had managed to set up her cousins and nephews into bedrooms - Billy and Tommy had been cheered a little when she offered them the gigantic attic bedroom to share and had taken to it quite happily. They were now exploring their new living space and claiming various bits of furniture for their sides of the room.

Toni had settled Wanda and Pietro into the extra guest rooms on the second floor, and then brought them down into the kitchen for some tea and gingersnaps. She resumed her baking as her cousins collected themselves enough to talk to her.

Eventually, Pietro explained what had happened - one of the neighboring tenants’ kids had started a fight with Tommy, and both of the twins had responded badly to that. The landlord had run out of his office as Wanda and Pietro were pulling the twins off of the other child and evicted them on the spot.

“Damien Sharpe was in the boy’s class,” Wanda said dully, still with her nose buried in her teacup. Toni knew that Hecate was curled up at Wanda’s feet, probably still off-kilter by her mistress’s distress. “He’s older than Tommy and Billy, and bigger. We were so scared…”

Toni nodded in understanding. “I’ll call Jen Walters tomorrow when her office is open. That landlord had no right to evict you, you’ve been model tenants.” She stirred her pot of pasta sauce and set it back onto the stove.

“Yeah, kept the blood sacrifice and devil summoning limited to the weekends,” Pietro said grimly.

Toni looked sadly at her cousins. “Please tell me that’s not what he said.”

Wanda put down her cup and rubbed at her forehead, her face twisted in anguish. “He followed us into the apartment to make sure we hadn’t damaged it. I think he was looking for bloodstains and ash on the wall.”

Hecate let out a whine and Pietro wrapped his hand around his sister’s and squeezed. He added, “He didn’t find anything so he said he was there to make sure we didn’t steal any furniture.”

Toni put down her spoon, turned down the heat on the stove, and strode over to the phone, fighting down her simmering temper. “Give me a moment.” She grabbed the handset and punched in Jen Walter’s home number.

Jen Walters had been Toni’s acquaintance back in New York City; as Toni had been finishing up her education, Jen had been finishing up law school. When Jen moved out to Cravenswood shortly after Toni did, Toni became her client. Plus, Jen was Bruce’s cousin; it was at her urging that Bruce relocated to Cravenswood as well after his visit during the incident with Loki. Since her arrival, Jen had set up a flourishing law practice alongside Foggy Nelson.

Being friends with her lawyer meant that Toni had a little leg room when it came to consulting on legal matters. Jen picked up after the third ring, sounding a bit distracted. “Hello?”

“Jen, I’m calling in my favor.” Toni glanced at her cousins, who were watching her silently.

“Jesus Christ, Toni, it’s after office hours--”

“My cousins just got unlawfully evicted from their residence barely a few months into their lease.”

Jen was silent, and Toni heard a sharp intake of breath. “Oh, shit.”

“Yeah. Jen?” Toni turned away from Wanda and Pietro and lowered her voice. “I need your help. Please?”

“I can be out to your place first thing tomorrow.”

Toni closed her eyes and breathed out in relief. “Thank you so much.”

“No worries,” Jen answered. “And hey, at least you’ve got a house. It’s not like Wanda and Pietro have nowhere to go.”

“Yeah. Lucky.”

Jen was silent for a moment, then said, “Toni, this murder case and all that… it makes me think that this kind of stuff is going to happen more and more, and it will worse.”

Toni licked her lips. “I… I think so too.”

“Toni, I’m not saying that you deserve it or anything, but… gird your loins, okay?”

“Yeah.” Toni swallowed. “Right. Thanks.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

They hung up, and Toni took a moment to breathe and school her face into a neutral expression - it probably wouldn’t fool the Maximoffs, but it would help her keep her composure.

She turned around and walked briskly back to the kitchen island. “We can eat shortly,” she said.

Pietro and Wanda exchanged odd expressions, then Wanda gently tugged her hand out of Pietro’s grasp and nodded. “I’ll go see to the boys.” She disappeared into the hallway, Hecate following at her heels.

“Did the old bastard give you your deposit back?” Toni asked Pietro, who shook his head.

“Said he got to keep it by law.”

Toni flicked off the stove and fought down her anger. “Okay. All right. Jen will have at the guy, and everything will be fine.”

“Only if she can prove any discrimination took place,” Pietro muttered. He looked at Toni, and there was something hard and flinty in his gaze. “Remember all that stuff our father used to talk about? How Witches were the superior humans and should be running the world?”

Toni closed her eyes and shook her head. “Your father is a survivor of horrible violence. I don’t mean to belittle that. But Pietro, he was wounded and has been lashing out ever since.”

Pietro was silent, then he shifted in his seat. “Reed is in town, yes?”

Toni didn’t answer.

“Did he ask you to join the Council again?”

Toni sighed. “Pietro--”

“I know you don’t want to make Steve angry. None of us do. But…” Pietro drummed his fingers on the counter. “You’d make a good High Councilwoman. You’d do better than me, or my father.”

Toni stopped stirring. She coughed, trying to clear her throat. “I… It--”

“No, don’t worry about it,” Pietro said. She turned around to face him, and he was staring out the window at the woods. “Just… just wanted you to know.”

Toni nodded her thanks and busied herself with finishing the main course.

 

Half an hour later, Reed and Sue returned to the mansion, having been dropped off by a patrol car. They were surprised to see the Maximoffs at the manor, but wisely didn’t ask.

“We can’t talk to you about the case,” Reed said apologetically. “Both the police chief and Detective Sousa were very clear about that.”

Toni didn’t answer him. Instead, she shoved a stack of dishes at him and pointed at the dining room. “Dinner’s almost ready.”

He nodded and disappeared into the next room to set the table.

They were tucking into the pasta and salad when the doorbell rang again.

Toni frowned and shook her head at the others, who were making to get up, and wiped her mouth with her napkin. “Wonder who that could be,” she said, getting up and dropping the napkin on her seat.

She was shocked to open the door and see Greg standing there.

“Antoinette--”

Toni found her words and stepped back to let her brother in. “Greg?”

“I heard about the… the boy’s murder.” Greg looked at the ground, shoulders slumped. “Are you all right?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Toni asked with a strained smile. “Half the town thinks I did it, and the police chief took the case away from Steve due to conflict of interest.”

“Good grief,” Greg said, affronted. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Toni shook her head.

“Who is it?” Pietro called, and Greg jumped.

“You have company?” Greg asked, peering into the dining room.

Toni crossed her arms over her chest and nodded. “Uh, yeah, Wanda and Pietro will be staying with me for the foreseeable future.”

Greg blinked at her.

Toni tilted her head and stared at him strangely. “Our cousins, Greg.”

“Oh. Oh! Magdalena’s children. I see.” Greg nodded slowly as it dawned on him.

Toni bit her lip, then uncrossed her arms and gestured to the dining room. “Join us for dinner? It’s just pasta and salad.”

“Ah, I already ate at the Parkers’, but I can certainly sit with you.” Greg smiled, and it was an odd smile. Perhaps it was only odd because Toni hadn’t seen it in so long. “Besides, I’ve never met these cousins of mine, and what kind of family does that make me?”

Toni made herself smile back at him. “I’m glad you’re staying. Come on in.”

 

After Greg joined the table and accepted the offer of coffee, conversation stalled a moment before Tommy eagerly asked about New York City, which broke the awkwardness. Greg and Reed and Sue were quite willing to talk about life in Manhattan and how the big city differed from a small town like Cravenswood. Toni was happy to nibble on her dinner and listen.

“Aunt Toni, was it like that when you were there?” Billy asked as Greg finished talking about the subway.

Toni hesitated, and thought back to her days before and after the Academy. “Well, it was certainly as crowded. I never really took the subway.”

“It sounds like an adventure!” Tommy exclaimed. “I wanna go there!”

“You are all certainly invited to visit,” Greg said, and the boys cheered.

“Wow, Greg, that’s… that’s very kind of you,” Wanda said, dazed. She looked at Toni, a question in her eyes, and Toni couldn’t answer it.

“I have been cut off from my own flesh and blood for over a decade,” Greg said simply. “This is me being selfish and trying to rebuild what I tore down all those years ago, but I would be delighted to host another family reunion.”

“That’s… quite generous,” Pietro mumbled into his salad.

Reed beamed at the table at large. “Well, this has turned into quite a day, hasn’t it!”

“Yes, indeed,” Toni muttered.

“I’m curious as to why you called Mr. and Mrs. Richards out here, Antoinette?”

Toni looked up and met Greg’s eyes, and had to search for an answer. “Uh, because--”

“Why do you call her that?” Tommy asked, wrinkling his nose.

“It’s her name,” Greg answered.

“But her name is Aunt Toni!”

“All right, then,” Greg smiled at Tommy, who made a silly face and went back to his pasta.

“We came to town to assist Toni in dealing with a lot of supernatural unpleasantness,” Reed spoke up, and Greg turned to face him. “I’d rather not discuss it at dinner, but that Reverend Stryker fellow was most likely in contact with Kimmel even when Kimmel was in New York--”

“Reed, you said you didn’t want to discuss it at dinner,” Sue reminded him.

“Well, yes, but Toni should know--”

“Stryker is an ass,” Tommy piped up, and Wanda gasped and smacked his arm. “Ow!”

“Tomás Victor Maximoff, we do not say such things!”

“What! He _is!_ ”

“He is, Mama!” Billy added, flinching away from his mother when she glared at him in reproach. “Teddy says he’s starting to call people and warn people about us. Teddy’s mom was super angry about it and yelled at him on the phone.”

“Oh, Ye Gods and Spirits,” Toni said, pinching the bridge of her nose. “He’s trying to incite a Witch hunt.”

“Stryker?” Greg glanced at everyone in turn and frowned. “Who is he?”

“The head of a small church at the fringe of town,” Toni explained. “He’s… very outspoken about his views of Witchcraft, along with a lot of other hot-button issues that conservatives like to rag on.”

Greg raised his eyebrows. “Sounds like a pleasant fellow.”

“I’ll show him pleasant,” Pietro grumbled. “I’ll give him a pleasant foot up his a--”

“Pietro!” Wanda hissed at him, and her sons cheered at their uncle’s pronouncement.

“Yeah, get ‘im, Uncle Pete!”

“Kick his butt!”

“That is _enough_ ,” Wanda snapped, and her boys fell silent. “We do not wish harm or violence on anyone, even if they make our lives difficult. Do you understand me?”

“Yes Mama,” the boys answered, chastened.

“I don’t know, Wanda,” Greg said. “I think this fellow deserves it--”

“No, Wanda’s right,” Toni cut him off. She and her cousin met each other’s eyes and nodded in silent agreement - Wanda had been there, too. Maybe not in exactly the same way, but similar enough. Wanda understood Toni’s grim determination to remain a pacifist.

Greg made a face at her. “Antoinette, Starks have always demanded respect from those around them--”

“I’m not just a Stark,” Toni interrupted. “I’m a Carbonell. Our mother was a Healer. We don’t destroy. We preserve, we create, we nurture and cherish.”

Greg blinked, then nodded. “Yes, you do take after Maria. Well, then it is up to me to defend my family from those who wish to harm them.” He sat back. “Howard may not have been the most enlightened man regarding Witchcraft, but he cared immensely for Maria's safety and happiness.” He rubbed his hands together. “I wonder how Stryker would feel, confronted by legal action?”

Toni decided not to answer him or respond to his comments about their parents.

“We’re already pursuing legal action for other things that have happened,” Wanda said. “We’ll be fine.”

“We appreciate your concern,” Pietro added. “But we’ll take care of ourselves.”

Greg eyed them both and eventually nodded. “Very well, then.”

There was an awkward silence, and then Reed changed the subject over to the situation in the Middle East and President Clinton's recent sex scandal (which went right over Tommy and Billy's heads, thankfully.) Toni was torn between wanting to shut him up and wanting to thank him for the segue, and eventually the topic wandered over to traveling across the U.S. and talking about various big cities. Toni ate little and spoke even less, watching Greg from under her eyelashes.

_I wonder what changed him…_  From what she recalled after Howard had as good as cut her off, Greg would have avoided getting involved in any magickal business. _Maybe I’d better ask Reed and Sue if anything strange has happened in New York._

 

There was someone in the house.

Toni quickly moved from room to room, checking on her houseguests. The boys were soundly asleep in the attic, Reed and Sue in the southernmost guest room, Wanda and Pietro down the west side.

And yet, she could feel something there, something not belonging, something not invited.

She hefted a makeshift weapon - a poker from her fireplace - and edged into every room, ignoring the sinking sense that she was just missing the intruder.

_eyes like embers in a sunken skull-- wings and claws and a gaping jaw--_

\--the intruder was in front of her in a flash, and it flew forward and this time when it reached its clawed hands out, it caught her--

Toni was on her back, empty-handed, bowled over. The house was in ruins around her, burnt to the ground.

Steve knelt over her, arm drawn back, his face horrifying in its rage. His skin was gray and waxy, like a corpse.

“Was it worth it?” he growled. His flesh drew tight over his bones, his teeth were bared.

Toni closed her eyes, tired and empty and sad. “Finish it, Steve,” she whispered.

Steve shook her. “ _Was it worth it?!_ ”

Toni screamed and flailed, but he kept shaking her. _It wasn’t worth it! It wasn’t worth it!_

“Toni? Toni, wake up! Wake up!”

“ _It’s not worth it!_ ” she screamed, her eyes flying open.

Wanda scrambled back on the bed, and Pietro kept hold of her shoulders to keep her from flying off the side. Both of the twins were breathing harshly.

“Toni?” Sue asked from the doorway, pale as a sheet. “Toni, are you alright?”

Toni didn’t answer; instead, she threw back the covers and stumbled to the in-suite bathroom, falling to her knees in front of the toilet. She quickly shoved the seat up and vomited, and Wanda was suddenly right next to her, pulling her hair back off her neck and rubbing her shoulder soothingly.

There was a cry out in the hallway and the sound of pounding feet, and then the boys were yelling for their mother. Sue and Pietro caught them in the doorway as Wanda kept Toni’s upper body from giving out on her, and then there was a hazy moment that Toni couldn’t recall, and then Sue was sitting her down on the closed toilet and patting her face with a cold, wetted towel.

“Toni, are you sick?” Sue asked.

Toni shook her head and took the towel from Sue, slinging it around the back of her neck. “Nightmare,” she rasped.

Sue rubbed her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“Nothing you did,” Toni muttered, then she raised her voice at Sue’s odd expression. “I’ve been having them for a while now.”

“Have you maybe considered they may be prophetic?” Sue asked.

Toni shook her head. “I hope not.”

Sue fell silent and just kept patting her shoulder. Eventually, she handed Toni a cup with water to wash her mouth out with.

Outside in the hallway, Wanda’s boys were becoming increasingly loud, borderline hysterical.

“What is their problem?” Toni finally asked.

“I dunno,” Sue leaned backwards to peer out the doorway. “They sound frightened.”

Pietro came in then, looking very worried. “Billy and Tommy both say there’s a monster in the woods, and it came into the house looking for someone.”

Toni got up very suddenly, so suddenly that her head began to spin. “ _Carillon d’inferno,_  I’ve been having intruder nightmares all week!” She was suddenly furious.

She carefully made her way back out into the bedroom and addressed the Familiars. “Did any of you sense an intruder in the house just recently?”

“No,” Hecate said in a very concerned voice. “Nothing.”

“Then whatever this thing is, it’s savvy.” Toni glared out the window.

“It may only be on the Astral plane,” Jarvis pointed out. His tail was still puffed up, and he was clearly displeased.

“It doesn’t matter, we can keep it out.” Toni looked to the other fully ordained Witches in the room. “It may not be Sabbat yet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t bless this property and cleanse it.”

“Agreed,” Sue said. “I’ll wake Reed.” She hurried off to her guest room.

“Aunt Toni?” Tommy piped up.

Toni glanced at her nephews and sat down on her bed, patting the spot next to her. “C’mere, you two.”

The boys climbed up onto the bed at her beckoning, and Wanda and Pietro gathered up their Familiars and swept out to grab their Working tools.

“Whatever this creeper is, it’s not getting any closer to you guys, okay?” Toni said as gently as she could.

“Aunt Toni, it said it was looking for someone,” Billy said timidly.

“Did it say who?”

The boys both shook their heads.

“It said it was Summoned to find someone, but it didn’t _say_  anything. It was in my head…” Billy covered his ears and squeezed his eyes shut, and Toni immediately gathered him into her arms and squeezed him.

Tommy, trying to stay aloof and strong, wavered for a few seconds before nestling up to her side and burying his face in her arm.

“Listen to me, you two,” Toni said. “Your mama and I are tough birds, and Reed and Sue are on the Council, and your uncle is an angry guy. This creeper thing doesn’t stand a chance. We’ll kick it out and it will never come near you again.”

“Okay,” Billy whispered.

“Jarvis,” Toni addressed her Familiar. “Stay with these two in here and only come and get me if something goes wrong.”

“You won’t be needing me, Mistress?”

“I think they need you more.” Toni ruffled both of her nephews’ hair and grabbed her mother’s old afghan off of the bench at the end of the bed. She threw it over the boys’ shoulders and Jarvis settled between them. “Stay here until we’re done locking down the manor, okay?”

The boys nodded, and Toni set off to grab more blessed medals and join her cousins and friends in the yard.

 

None of them really slept all that well for the remainder of the night. The boys climbed into Wanda’s bed with Hecate curled up at the foot, and Wanda herself paced the halls restlessly before laying down and trying to doze for a few hours.

Reed and Sue managed to catch a few solid hours of sleep around one in the morning, and Pietro and Toni ended up in the kitchen nursing lukewarm tea.

“What in seven hells is going on in our town?” Pietro wondered, his voice scratchy with weariness.

“I don’t know,” Toni admitted. “But I’m starting to wonder if it would be smarter to move the coven somewhere… safer.”

“Toni, you can’t just uproot everyone.”

“I know,” Toni laid her head down on the kitchen table and moaned. “I know I know I know, but… I don’t know if it’s worth it to sta--”

_Was it worth it?!_

The words from her nightmare blindsided her with the force of a speeding truck. She froze, words dying forgotten in her throat, and then sat up. “ _Carillon d’inferno,_ ” she whispered. “ _Carillon d’inferno,_  that thing was looking for me.”

“What makes you think that?” Pietro demanded.

“It’s all… it’s all centered around me.” Toni started pulling at her hair in distress. “ _Mater diella Dieva,_  it’s all… Krzeminski was killed after he and I had a disagreement, and Damien Sharpe was the same--”

“But the first two,” Pietro said, making a face. “You had no connection to them.”

Toni froze and ran it over in her mind, then slumped forward. “Yeah, that’s true.” She groaned. “ _Carillon d’inferno,_  every time I think I’ve got it figured out, the answer just moves beyond my reach.”

Pietro was silent, then looked out the window at the dark woods beyond the manor’s property. “What of the Plague?”

Toni sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “It’s… it’s bad, but we’ve got it contained for now. If more people start showing symptoms, I can only hope they get to Jane and Thor for treatment.”

“But if one of Stryker’s flock catches it, you know they’ll refuse to see a Witch about it.”

Toni regarded her cousin and remembered just how much younger he was than her. “Pietro, the first thing you need to realize about magick and the Craft is that… we nudge the Universe, with our gifts. If someone refuses our help, we can’t do anything about that.”

“I know,” Pietro answered in a tired voice. “I don’t like it, but I know it.”

They sat in silence for a moment, and Toni sipped at her now-cold tea.

“I want things to go back to normal,” Pietro eventually said. “Or get better. Ever since Tania McGee’s murder…”

“Sousa said the same thing the other day,” Toni said. “If two of you are wishing for it, chances are the Universe will listen.”

Pietro laughed, a half-hearted laugh that was mostly bitterness. “Sousa and I have very different ideas of what constitutes ‘normal’.”

“True.”

They sat in silence for a bit longer, and then Pietro left to try and sleep some more. Toni stayed downstairs and eventually got up and walked the ground floor, reinforcing the protections in the very walls of the manor. Some of them were older than even her mother, and she added her Power to the ancestral protection spells and genty wove her own in, until the walls were humming with defensive magick from the very foundation to the weather vane on the roof.

Toni closed her eyes and hummed in satisfaction before finally retiring once more.

 

Jen showed up at the manor at nine in the morning, dressed to impress and ready to get down to the nitty-gritty. She looked like she was just _asking_  for a courtroom brawl and more than willing to deliver it.

Toni set her up in the parlor with Wanda and Pietro and set about feeding the boys and her out-of-town guests. Half an hour went by before they were interrupted by a knock on the front door.

Toni went to answer it, leaving Billy and Tommy to gobble down sand dollar pancakes, and wiping her hands on her apron as she went.

“ _Carillon d’inferno,_ ” she muttered - and good grief if she wasn’t swearing a lot more than usual - and unlatched the door.

Sousa and Dooley stood on her porch, both looking rather grim.

“What is this?” she demanded, immediately frightened and defensive.

Sousa sighed, then stepped back. “Strega Stark, could you please step outside?”

Toni’s hackles immediately went up, and Jarvis wound around her ankle, eyeing the men suspiciously. “What for?”

“Strega, please.”

“No, I have a right to know.” Toni crossed her arms and braced one foot against the door to prevent anyone from pushing it open.

Dooley grimaced, then spoke up. “Reverend Stryker was found dead this morning. Third person in a row to piss you off and end up cut open.”

Toni’s jaw dropped. “But… but I didn’t--” she looked wildly around. “I didn’t kill anyone! I wouldn’t--”

“Can anyone vouch for you around two in the morning?” Sousa asked, peering beyond Toni into the house. She realized that the others must have drifted into the foyer to see what was going on.

“Um, we were all here trying to sleep,” she said slowly. “Something threatened the boys, and--”

“Was anyone with you around two A.M.?” Dooley interrupted her.

Toni hesitated. “No one except Jarvis.”

Sousa sighed. “Toni, you need to come with us.”

“Jen--” Toni glanced back over her shoulder at her attorney, whose eyes were wide with shock.

Jen narrowed her eyes and nodded. She muttered something to Wanda and Pietro, then stepped forward to stand with Toni. “My client will answer questions only, unless you can charge her.”

“Oh, but we can,” said Dooley. “Five counts of murder should do it.” He withdrew a paper from his coat pocket and unfurled it. Toni could clearly read “warrant for arrest” at the top.

She let out a dry sob and shook her head. “I didn’t--”

“Toni, try to stay silent.” Jen snatched at the warrant and glared at it, like she wanted to tear it up. “We’ll get this sorted out.”

“If you’re satisfied,” Dooley said cooly, gesturing in a mockery of chivalry to the porch stairs. “We’d like to be off.”

Sousa met Toni’s eyes, and he tilted his head. “Turn around and place your hands behind your head," he finally said.

Toni closed her eyes and stepped out onto the porch. “Wanda and Pietro, stay here and hold down the manor until I get back,” she called, and Wanda nodded with wide, terrified eyes. Pietro tried to stay stoic, and the boys looked shocked and scared. Sue and Reed were watching in abject horror as Sousa cuffed her hands together and began to lead her out to the waiting squad car.

“Ah, wait a second,” Dooley grunted, and he stooped down and grabbed Jarvis before he could join Toni in the car. “No pets allowed in jail.”

“No!” Toni screamed, fighting Sousa’s hold. “No, Jarvis-- he isn’t a _pet_ \--”

“Mistress!” her Familiar yowled, fighting to get to her. “Unhand me, mortal!”

“Watch who you call ‘mortal’,” Dooley snapped, tossing Jarvis back onto the porch. “You aren’t coming, so stay there or else so help me god, I’ll shoot you.”

Toni was becoming hysterical. “Jarvis!”

“Toni, stop!” Jen pulled her back. “Toni, don’t make this any worse!”

“ _No!_  I need him! **_I need him!_** ” Toni continued to struggle and cry out as Sousa and Dooley both forced her into the backseat of the squad car. She screamed as they slammed the door on her and got in to drive away, then curled up in on herself as they pulled away from the manor.

Jarvis remained on the porch, watching helplessly as she was taken away.

 


	13. Chapter 13

_seventeen years ago_

Toni was awakened by the rubbing of a velvety head against her cheek. "Hmm? Huh?"

"You have class this morning, Mistress," Jarvis reminded her.

Toni moaned. "Thank you, fuzzy daemonic alarm clock." She stroked Jarvis's head and sat up.

Jarvis sat primly down at the end of the bed as Toni climbed out from under the covers and shuffled to her dresser to grab her robe. "Mistress, do you believe it... prudent to continue to keep me hidden whilst you attend to your studies?"

Toni sighed. "I can't fit you in my bag, Jarvis."

"Nor would I wish to fit in one," Jarvis sniffed.

"I'm just saying, it's not quite safe yet."

"I fail to see how my presence makes you unsafe."

Toni tied her bathrobe off and sat down next to her - she still got a little faint every time she thought of it! - Familiar, and Jarvis pressed into her side. Toni relished the contact; the separation was wearing hard on her too.

"I'm just not sure how everyone will react to you," Toni said quietly. "I want you with me, but I also want to not stand out."

Jarvis hummed thoughtfully. "Perhaps I should have taken a more unobtrusive form."

"No, I like you fine the way you are," Toni scooped him up and hugged him to her chest.

Jarvis purred. "I am glad for this, Mistress."

Toni set him back down and stroked his head. “I promise, the day will come that you can follow me anywhere and everywhere.”

“I look forward to that day, Mistress.”

Being separated from Jarvis wasn’t fun - the newly forged bond between her Familiar and herself was still rather… _tight_ , that was the best word. With time, it would be possible for her to send Jarvis out into the world and stay behind, like Witches of old. There were limits to this, of course - Toni had read up on those, in her research before the Summoning - but they were mostly emotional boundaries. Toni herself had immediately felt better and less anxious after the Binding, probably due to the bond, but that didn’t make being away from Jarvis any easier.

“Hey, are you okay?” Rhodey asked for the third time that morning. He kept darting worried glances at her. “You aren’t high on anything, right?”

Toni glared at him. “No, I most certainly am not.”

“Are you hungover?”

“Not at all.”

“Then why are you so twitchy?”

Toni shrugged.

_Perhaps this shall salve your discomfort, Mistress._  Jarvis’s voice echoed in her head, and the immense relief she experienced shortly thereafter was almost like an orgasm. She sighed and closed her eyes as the stress on the bond lessened - it was like overextending a muscle, only it was all in her mind. Not unbearable, but certainly not fun.

_Where are you?_  she asked, and Jarvis chuckled silently.

_The roof above you,_  he answered.

Toni bit her lip and fought to keep her expression blank. _Make sure no one sees you!_

_Of course, Mistress._

She noticed Rhodey giving her odd looks out of the corner of her eye and made a face at him.

Once the class had ended, Rhodey grabbed her arm and pulled her into the hallway, away from Professor Harkness.

“Toni, there’s something you’re not telling me,” he said in a low voice. “I am seriously concerned, so it might be a good idea to spill.”

_I like Jim Rhodes,_  Jarvis offered.

Toni sighed and looked Rhodey over. “You promise not to freak out?”

“No, I don’t promise,” Rhodey snapped. “I’ve known you since you were in diapers, and I’ve seen you through every major bit of trouble you’ve gotten yourself into. Give me one good reason not to freak out at you and I won’t.”

“It’s not all that bad,” Toni grumbled, and turned on her heel to take off for the stairs. She glanced over her shoulder; Rhodey was standing where she’d left him, a dumbfounded look on his face. She whistled shortly, and Rhodey blinked and hurried to catch up.

“Toni, what’s going on--”

“Shh!” She pushed the door open and started climbing.

Rhodey was quickly right behind her. “Oh gods, did you destroy something?”

“No.”

They both had to shove the door to the roof open, and then they blinked at the bright sunlight as they strode out among the student gardens.

“Okay, what is it?” Rhodey turned to her, hands on hips, and then something caught his eye over her shoulder. He stared, and Toni raised her eyebrows and twisted to follow his gaze.

She gasped as Jarvis slunk out from behind a few shrubs. He was no longer in his innocuous housecat form - he’d shifted into a black-and-silver striped tiger, silver feather wings folded along his back, and a small crystal horn on his forehead. His eyes were still the same, and they were locked on Rhodey.

“Uh,” she said. “Rhodey, meet Jarvis.”

Rhodey’s mouth worked, but no words came out.

Jarvis brushed up against her, nearly knocking her over, and sat back on powerful haunches. “Do I meet your approval, Master Rhodes?” he purred.

“You--” Rhodey looked from Toni to Jarvis and back. “You managed a Summoning--”

“About a week ago,” Toni answered, her hand coming to rest on Jarvis’s head. “I didn’t want anyone to know yet.”

“Why did you decide to tell me?” Rhodey asked, not taking his eyes off of Jarvis.

“Because you’re my best friend, and because you noticed how hard it is for me to be separated from him.”

“Does he always look like that?” Rhodey gestured at the particularly daemonic form Jarvis had taken.

“No, this is the first time I’ve seen him like this.” Toni nodded at her Familiar, who immediately shrank back into his silver housecat form. She scooped him up and he purred once more, winding around her shoulders like a mink stole.

“Holy shit,” Rhodey said, using a Cowan curse, and Toni laughed. “I… wow, I didn’t think you’d--”

“Yeah, I didn’t think so either,” Toni admitted. “I hoped, but I didn’t think it would work.”

“Wow,” Rhodey said again. “I mean, good for you, Tones.” He grinned at her, and Toni smiled back at him in relief.

“So I need your opinion,” she said mock-seriously. “Should I bring an extra bag to class with him in it?”

“No,” Jarvis said instantly, and Rhodey laughed.

“I don’t think he’d like that.” He paused, rubbing his chin. “Maybe you could wear long skirts and he could hide under them?”

“I wouldn’t be completely opposed to that,” Jarvis said thoughtfully.

“I don’t have any floor-length skirts, those went out of style over seventy years ago,” Toni said.

“Then maybe you should look into getting some?” Jarvis suggested, tail swishing.

“Oh god, my Familiar is giving me fashion advice. This is my life.” Toni still rubbed her cheek against his, and he purred once more. “Okay, I’ll look into it.”

“Or you could just come out with it?” Rhodey pointed out. “I mean, everyone would treat you differently… you might even get Ordained earlier. You could jump straight to University.”

“I want to finish my studies first,” Toni answered. “I want to get Ordained with the rest of you.”

“Cool, that’s cool.” Rhodey held out a hand, and Jarvis allowed Rhodey to stroke down between his pointed ears. “Still, if you let the cat out of the bag - so to speak,” he added, and Jarvis chuckled. “Well, you could still take Jarvis to all of your classes and all.”

“Maybe I should talk to Professor Yinsen,” Toni said slowly, thinking of her assigned advisor.

“That’s one of the first sensible ideas I’ve heard from you in a long while,” Rhodey teased.

Toni stuck her tongue out at him, and they laughed as the wind rushed through the plants and tossed their hair and clothes in the sparkling sunlight.

The next person to find out about Jarvis was Pepper. She surprised them the very next morning by barging into her dorm room without knocking and found Toni at her desk and Jarvis, in his larger daemonic form, lounging on the bed. Pepper had stared, walked out of the room and slammed the door shut, and then come back in and closed the door behind her.

“Toni,” she said slowly. “Please tell me I’m hallucinating.”

“You’re hallucinating,” Toni said blandly.

Pepper glared at her. “There is a giant cat monster on your bed.”

“That’s really rude,” Toni answered her. “He’s not a monster.”

Jarvis shrank back down and sidled up to Pepper, purring as charmingly as possible.

“You Summoned him,” Pepper said faintly, sinking into a crouch and petting Jarvis. “Oh, Ye Gods and Spirits, Toni--”

“Isn’t he great?” Toni interrupted, pasting a stiff smile on her face. “I’ve been a thousand times more productive since he arrived, and he’s been making me sleep and eat regularly so I feel better. Plus, it’s nice to have someone with a grasp of the spells I’m attempting at my elbow.”

“You Summoned a responsible daemon,” Pepper realized. “Ye Gods and Spirits.”

“I guess I did.” Toni shrugged, and Jarvis jumped back onto her bed and settled down on the pillow.

“Mistress needed me,” Jarvis said, as if it were just that simple. “So I arrived.”

Pepper laughed, a giddy laugh of relief. “Oh, this is wonderful! I was worried you’d get something more rambunctious…”

Jarvis examined a paw. “There were others of that disposition attempting to answer the Call, but I won out in the end.”

“What a relief,” Pepper said, ducking her head down to her knees. She let out a long moan. “Toni, you are going to give me my first gray hairs.”

“Aw, Pepperpot, don’t say stuff like that,” Toni giggled.

Pepper moaned again before looking back up. “Who else knows?”

“Just you and Rhodey. I’m going to talk to Yinsen about this on Monday.”

Pepper frowned at that. “Why?”

Toni shrugged. “Well, as you said before: the Council probably already knows. Might as well come clean so he can come with me to all my classes.”

“ _Miertè_ ,” Pepper said.

“It’s been awhile since the Summoning,” Toni pointed out. “If the Council was going to make a move on me, they would have by now.”

“Well, Toni, the Council usually waits until it’s time to tithe,” Pepper answered, and Toni knew that she was right.

The Carbonell clan came from a long line of Witches and mystics from Italy. There were stories that the legendary Witch Queen Aradia was their ancestor. Wanda, Pietro, and Toni were very much sought after as children, Toni was coming to learn. She’d conscientiously refused to think about it while preparing for the Summoning.

Pepper sighed and slumped back against the door, her head thumping on the wood. “At least you’re talking to Yinsen. He’ll be fair, he’ll take your age into consideration.”

“What does my age have to do with anything?”

“You’re only fourteen and you’ve Summoned a Familiar,” Pepper said dryly. “You earned the title of Strega before you became a legal adult. The Council will want to have a hand in how you progress from here on out. Yinsen is definitely a futurist, and for sure more moderate, but the Council operates on majority. You may be smart, and you may be mature, but it still wouldn’t be appropriate to drag you into serious Council matters when you haven’t even been Ordained yet.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to be dragged into Council matters,” Toni allowed. “But if this goes well, I could be Ordained with you guys at the end of the next school year.”

Pepper smiled. “I have noticed an uptick in the quality of your Work, to be honest.”

“Ha! See!” Toni grinned back at her. “And I managed to create a working prototype, look!” She gestured at her disassembled phone. “I called home to Mama on this!”

“H...how?” Pepper squinted at the pieces of the telephone on the desk.

“Well,” Toni held up the earpiece and the mouthpeace separately. “Kinda… like this?” She held the earpiece to her ear and the mouthpiece by her chin, and Pepper burst out into laughter.

“Reassemble that phone so you don’t look so ridiculous!”

“Hey, I’ll have you know that I had an idea for a hands-free headset!” Toni shot back, but she was laughing too.

“I’d like to see that,” Pepper answered. “It really worked?”

“Yes! Jarvis, tell her!”

Jarvis nodded serenely. “I heard Strega Maria’s voice on the other end. She was able to operate it perfectly.”

“Wow,” Pepper said. She struggled to her feet and made her way over to the desk. “If you figure out how to standardize this, you could make a fortune.”

“Until then, the magick mirrors and crystal balls will rule communications,” Toni said ruefully. “I wonder if anyone other than you guys will see the merit in this?”

“Are you kidding? Rumiko will flip out!”

“Hm. Yeah. She did say her dad wanted in on a standardized communication method.” Toni tapped her chin. “Next time Fujikawa-san comes here, I’ll pitch it to him.”

“And I bet with a little work, you’ll be able to call him up in Tokyo one day without thinking anything of it.” Pepper peered at the pieces of the phone. “If a magick mirror can do that, no reason why you can’t.”

Toni leaned back and looked at her friend for a long moment. “Why are you being so supportive of me now, when last week you were harping on me?” she finally asked. “I mean, not trying to be rude or anything, of course--”

“Toni, I was worried you were going to work yourself into a nervous breakdown.” Pepper squeezed her shoulder. “And I had no idea how to help you, and it scared me. But with Jarvis around, you’re actually a lot better. Besides, if this is the Work you’re doing for Stane’s independent study, I really don’t have the right to criticize you for it.” She paused, and then met Toni’s eyes. “What about that thing with your father and your brother?”

“I’m trying not to think about it,” Toni admitted. “It still hurts, but…” she shrugged. “Maybe one day we can reconcile, once Greg’s grown up a bit on his own and stepped out from Howard’s shadow.”

Pepper nodded. “That’s really mature of you, Toni.”

“Thanks, I’m working on that.” Toni winked.

Pepper laughed again and drew her into a hug. “Good luck with Yinsen tomorrow.”

Toni hugged her back, more at peace with herself than she’d been in months.

Rumiko actually squealed when Toni presented Jarvis to her.

“Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!”

Jarvis had shifted into his much more impressive daemonic form for the occasion and actually purred when Rumiko fearlessly stroked down his neck.

“Pepper met him earlier,” Toni said, wringing her hands. “I’m going to tell Yinsen tomorrow. It’s getting too painful to leave him in my room during classes.”

“Yes, good!” Ru exclaimed, her eyes sparkling. “Oh, Toni, this is fantastic! He’s beautiful!”

Jarvis purred even louder, and Toni could swear he was grinning.

“You’re a good human,” Toni commented, and both Ru and Jarvis snorted at her.

“Toni, this is such a huge deal,” Ru insisted. “You’re one of the youngest Witches I’ve ever heard of to manage a Summoning.”

“Not for the lack of trying,” Toni said, and Jarvis shrank down into housecat form and jumped into her lap. Toni automatically stroked down his back, and he purred at her. “Besides, Pepper and I already talked about the _official implications_ , so. Yeah.”

“Okay, I’ll just restrict myself to mindless praise,” Ru replied sarcastically, flopping down on Toni’s bed.

Toni stuck her tongue out at her friend.

“So you think you could possibly graduate early?” Ru asked, rolling onto her back and looking up, upside-down.

“That might be cool.”

“You sure you’re ready? What would you do after being Ordained?”

Toni thought about it. “I’d probably go on to Uni,” she said finally. “I want to study the original frameworks of the spells and rituals we use today and reinvent them and apply them to more modern uses. We could globalize communication,” she added, going starry-eyed.

“You said you got your phone to work?” Ru eyed the device in question.

“Oh, yeah, tell your dad I have something for him.” Toni waggled her eyebrows. “He could take the mobile telephone market by storm, it would be amazing…”

“He would pay you so much,” Ru said, grinning. “You’d be set for life, no need for the Stark gun blood money.”

Toni closed her eyes. “That would be nice.”

“Imagine it!” Ru said excitedly. “What would you do after Uni?”

Toni had no idea. “What would _you_  do?”

Ru rolled onto her stomach. “I’d probably head back to Japan, join the coven out of Kyoto or possibly Osaka.”

“Osaka?” Toni wrinkled her nose. “Really?”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Ru agreed. “Kyoto has more history with their coven.”

“Well, that and there are more hot samurai ghosts running around the old capital, right?” Toni teased her, and got a pillow thrown in her face for her troubles.

“You are the _worst_ ,” Ru groaned, rolling onto her back again and throwing an arm over her eyes. She’d had a bad experience with a ghost in her childhood and avidly avoided them.

Toni giggled and switched the subject back to the phones, which they ended up discussing well into the evening, and when Ru left to head back to her dorm room, Toni felt lighter than air.

“If this keeps up, tomorrow will end up being the best day of my life!” she said to Jarvis as she crawled under her covers.

Jarvis curled up serenely on the extra pillow. “Indeed, Mistress.”

Having slept soundly the previous night and with Jarvis at her heels, Toni strode into Streghe Yinsen’s office with her shoulders thrown back, spine straight, and head held high.

Yinsen took one look at Jarvis, winding around Toni’s ankles, and raised his eyebrows. “Miss Stark,” he said slowly. “Is that what I think it is?”

His hawk Familiar Yasmin let out a surprised chirp and eyed Jarvis. “Master,” she said lowly. “Master, you must address her as Strega.” She bowed her head and stretched out a wing.

Yinsen’s eyebrows went even higher. “This… I was expecting this a little later. _Strega_  Stark,” he added, and the title sent a little trill of excitement zinging through her. “It appears you have Summoned a Familiar for yourself.”

Toni grinned. “Pretty cool, huh?”

Yinsen got up from his desk and quickly stepped around it, falling into a crouch in front of Jarvis. “My, but you are quite a sophisticated daemon, are you not?”

Jarvis sniffed primly. “I would like to think I am, more so than the utter riffraff that attempted to answer the Call.”

Yinsen nodded knowingly. “Strega Stark, this is most impressive.” He openly smiled at her, and Yasmin shifted on her perch to get a better look. “At this rate, I feel comfortable estimating that you will be Ordained much sooner than seventeen.”

“That sounds perfect,” Toni said, grinning back at him. The last time they’d spoken, Yinsen had mentioned that he was considering holding her back from being Ordained due to her age. She’d panicked at the thought of all of her friends moving on without her.

Yinsen gestured to the chair in front of his desk and reclaimed his seat. “Let us discuss this turn of events, and I would also like to speak to your mother about this.”

_I’d rather she hear it from you,_  Toni thought to herself, plastering a cheery smile on her face.

“Now,” Yinsen said, leaning forward. “Tell me about your progress in Professor Stane’s class…”

Toni ascended to the next class level with Rhodey and Pepper and Ru, and Jarvis was allowed to attend all of her classes with her. He ended up being a better note-taking device than her actual notepad, and between her excellent memory and his familiarity with the spellwork being discussed, she easily began to master higher-level spells.

Her friends asked her for help in preparation for their own Summonings, which she happily gave. In between helping others practice for the final tests and the regular schoolwork, Toni perfected the magickally-enhanced long-distance telephone. She then began to work on making it cordless, yielding limited success. She ended up messing around with transistors for a long while, with scattered results.

She was so busy that she barely noticed Professor Stane’s odd reactions to her weekly check-ins for his independent study program. Sometimes he would get this weird expression on his face, a strange unreadable look. His eyes had this hungry look that made her uncomfortable… and Jarvis echoed her unease, assuming a defensive posture whenever Toni stepped into his lecture hall.

Jarvis didn’t much like Tiberius, either. He ended up driving him away one morning when Ty decided to sneak into Toni’s room to surprise her and found Jarvis in his larger daemonic form lying in wait. Toni didn’t hear from Ty for a while after that incident.

Maria visited her in-person at Yule of Toni’s final year at the Academy, and they discovered that Ana and Jarvis were familiar (no pun intended) with each other. Toni spent the better part of the holiday weekend at the local hotel with her mother while their Familiars alternately played and curled up at their feet.

"I am so very proud of you," Maria said at dinner, the night before she was to head back to Manhattan. "You have blossomed in just a few short months... I feared the worst, when Virginia told me of your... hardships."

Toni felt her good mood slip away, and she fixed her gaze on her plate. "How is Greg?"

Maria sighed. "I'm not sure. He is away at school, like you. But, he doesn't really talk to me."

Ana made a sad noise, and Jarvis rubbed his head against hers comfortingly.

"Did you... Did we ever do anything to make him angry at us?" Toni asked quietly.

Maria wrapped her hand around Toni's and squeezed. "Antoinette, _me bambina,_  we did nothing wrong. Some people change, grow apart from their loved ones."

Toni finally meet her mother's eyes. "Does Howard see him often?"

Maria didn't answer, and that was enough.

"We were never good enough for him," Toni said, a spark of anger striking in her gut. "And it isn't our fault... Why do you stay there with him?" she demanded, albeit in a subdued tone.

Maria's eyes were misty with unshed tears. "Oh, my darling, there will come a day when you know what it means to love, and to sacrifice for your love."

Toni shook her head. "I won't ever love a Cowan," she growled. "Nor will I ever change for one. They're all fearful, petty cretins."

"No," Maria said sharply. "Do not think that." She tilted Toni's chin up, made her look at her. "There are good Witches and bad ones, kind Spirits and unkind ones, and there are certainly good Cowans and bad ones as well. You can't have one without the other."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Toni scoffed.

Maria was silent for a moment, then she sat back in her chair. "Perhaps... on your next holiday, once you've been Ordained, we can go to my hometown of Cravenswood."

Toni blinked. "Cravenswood?"

"Witches have been a part of the town's history since its inception," Maria reminded her. "The previous coven disbanded years ago, after my mother passed."

Toni vaguely remembered hearing the news that a grandmother she'd never known had died. Howard had refused to allow Maria to go back to her childhood home to attend the funeral ceremony, no matter how she'd pleaded. She ended up locking herself in her Workroom and performing a ceremony alone with Ana, then spent the customary month-and-a-day of mourning barely speaking a word, wearing somber black clothes and little jewelry, leaving her hair in a dark curly tangle, and performing no magick. Howard had ignored her almost entirely, grumbling about "antics" and refusing to talk about her to anyone who visited.

"Perhaps the town is in need of a Witch's touch again," Maria said, drawing Toni back to the present. "I remember having a good relationship with the church's priest. Father Lamton. He's got to be getting on in years, but I would bet he would be delighted to meet you."

"You're trying to convince me that being a town Witch for a small town would prove that not all Cowans are terrible?" Toni raised an eyebrow.

"Cravenswood is a different world from New York, and it is one of the most unique small towns in the Midwest... I think it would do you good to experience it." Maria smiled mysteriously. "They say Jonathan Craven got lost in the woods for a year, but was able to survive and eventually establish the town because of the ambient Spirits aiding him. The lake has legends surrounding it, according to the local Indian tribes... and of course, Jonathan eventually married my ancestor, Miranda Collins, and she was the town Witch and headed her coven for decades." Maria closed her eyes. "Her daughter built the house that I grew up in. It is a beautiful place, rich with magick."

"Cravenswood is in the middle of the Bible Belt," Toni pointed out.

"No, it is not. It is quite a ways away from it. Closer to Chicago, actually."

Toni wrinkled her nose. "Chicago is another big city..."

Maria laughed. "Now you're just being difficult."

Toni pouted at her mother. “It might have changed from how you remember it. I’ve read things, about small towns…”

Maria made a face at her. “Would you really prefer second hand information from first hand empirical data?”

Toni sighed and let her head thump back against the backing of the chair. “Mama…”

“We wouldn’t stay long,” Maria reassured her. “I only wish that you’d see the town and the house once.”

Toni couldn’t deny that the stories she’d heard of the Carbonell Manor, and the mischief Maria and her twin sister had gotten into within it, had ignited an ember of interest in her as a child. “Maybe next holiday,” she allowed, and Maria smiled at her.

The week before the Ordaining ceremonies, everything went to shit.

Pepper, Rhodey, and Ru had all managed to Summon their Familiars - Pepper with Hera, Rhodey with Ares, and Ru with Helios, an elk daemon. Ru had decided to travel to Copenhagen, and from there to Prague. Rhodey and Pepper had already begun their prep for the University transfer, out in Boston. Toni was hoping to take a year off to reconnect with her mother and finally visit Cravenswood. In fact, she was actually looking forward to it. All that was left to do was the Ordaining and then she’d be free.

So when Ezekiel showed up and waited expectantly for her to come along with, she was a tad bit confused.

Jarvis at her heels, she followed the cougar daemon through the halls of the dorms, across the quad, and into the building where Stane’s class was held.

The building had emptied out hours ago, after classes had let out. Most of the lecture halls were dark, and a lot of the lights had been dimmed. It was slightly eerie, and Toni felt the hairs on her arms standing up as she passed by empty classroom after gapingly empty classroom. She didn’t like being in the class buildings after the actual lessons had been let out.

Jarvis was moving very stiffly, his tail low and the hair along his spine raised. She could sense anxiety and discontent radiating from him.

Ezekiel stopped in front of Stane’s lecture hall and sat, waiting for Toni to open the door and enter. She gulped and did so tentatively, feeling like she was intruding. “Professor?”

Stane looked up from his desk, where Toni’s finalized telephone was sitting. He smiled and waved her in, but something in her gut told her not to move.

Unfortunately, she didn’t anticipate Ezekiel headbutting her in the back and shoving her in. Jarvis quickly jumped in behind her, and the door slammed shut.

“I have to say, Strega Stark,” Stane said, prodding the telephone. “You continue to surprise the Witching world. You must be one of the youngest students to be Ordained in a long while.”

Toni shrugged as Ezekiel slunk out from behind her and sat down on the steps near her. “I… um, well--”

“I would wonder what’s coming next for you,” Stane went on, as if she weren’t stammering and surreptitiously trying to find a way to extract herself from the room, “except for the fact that some of my… colleagues… are concerned about the frankly dangerous ideas in your head.”

Toni blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Your thesis on adapting technology to accept magick… as well as adapting magick to work with technology, for the mutual benefit of Cowan and Witch is admirable,” Stane said, his face twisted in a tight grin. “However, we cannot permit you to continue on this mission of yours.”

“We?” Toni repeated.

“There are many of us,” Stane answered, standing. He picked up Toni’s prototype and raised it over his head, and Toni had a split second of realization before he violently threw the phone at the ground and smashed it, stomping on it for good measure.

Toni’s back slammed against the closed door, and then she jerked away with a yelp as the door burned her skin like it had been--

_Like it had been hexed in advance--_

“I cannot allow you to be Ordained,” Stane said, the smile gone from his face. His gaze was intense, and his tone of voice frightened Toni more than anything else in her life.

“Professor--” she stammered, and then flinched when Ezekiel growled at her.

“I have observed you since you first entered my class,” Stane went on, stalking towards her. “You had a moment there, when you would have been most vulnerable, but…” he eyed Jarvis, who hissed at him. “Unfortunately, I missed my chance.”

“Your chance to what?” Toni whispered, her hands shaking.

“To influence you. If I had known you were actively working on Summoning a Familiar, I would have tried to get you a more malleable daemon for the role. You, frankly, are quite dangerous.” Stane tilted his head. “You do know the truth about Cowans, don’t you?”

Toni didn’t move or answer, just continued to track Stane’s movements all the while trying to think her way out of this trap. She sensed Jarvis’s rolling fury and anxiety like it was her own, but they were both emotionally compromised; Toni could feel the nervous energy bleeding out of her very fingers. She suspected Jarvis was barely holding his form together.

“Cowans were put upon this Earth to toil and serve us, the Witches. The sons and daughters of the Horned God and his Mistress,” Stane named the deities at the center of one of the lesser known forms of Stregheria, one that ignored the Goddess and instead revolved around a warrior-sorcerer God, who was usually cast as the consort of the Goddess and not the other way around.

Toni gasped at this: the followers of the offshoot of Stregheria tended to be more violent and brutal in their treatment towards non-believers, Witch and Cowan alike. She’d received no indication that Stane was one such--

Stane laughed. “Cowans aren’t people, not like us Witches,” he hissed, and to her left, Ezekiel bared his teeth. “They were born of bone and mud, while we were forged of stardust and lightning. We are the Favored Ones, and you would work to elevate those… those _animals_  to reside in the Heavens with us?” He tutted and shook his head. “What a waste of talent, what a waste of Power. You young ones always seem to have all the raw Power these days…”

Toni swallowed.

“This is your last chance,” Stane said, and Ezekiel let out a very low growl that sounded less like his mountain cat form and more like the lowest, most diabolical daemon. “You can join our cause, Antoinette. You can be spared the wrath of the Horned One.”

“And damn my own family while I’m at it?” Toni finally burst out, furious. “You’re insane!”

Stane laughed again, harsh and cruel. “Your own family? Your own Cowan flesh and blood cast you out! I know about your father,” he added, jeering. “I know of your brother, I know of the Stark family and its legacy of destruction. Your father is an arrogant fool, playing with forces he cannot hope to control. Your mother is weak, with her country ways and her domesticated magick. The Cowans will never see her, will never see _you_  as anything but unnatural! You foolish little girl, you would protect those who pushed you away?”

“Fuck you!” Toni screamed, because she had nothing else to say.

Ezekiel lunged at Jarvis, catching the silver cat’s neck in his jaws.

Toni screamed for her Familiar, and he transformed and twisted out of Ezekiel’s grasp, raking his giant claws across the cougar’s hide.

Ezekiel yowled and rolled away, and Toni took her opportunity to gather her strength and raise her hands, palms up and out. She’d never done this before, and was momentarily shocked when enormous balls of white-hot energy erupted from her palms, blasting Stane in the chest and throwing him across the room.

"Stupid little bitch--" Stane growled as he struggled to his feet.

Toni dodged to the side, behind the desks, as Stane lobbed a bright bolt of red lighting right at her face.

"You aren't getting out of here alive, Antonette!" Stane yelled, and blasted the desks away. The concussive force threw her against the wall to the right. She fell to the ground and lay there, stunned, and then Stane was standing over her, hands crackling with energy.

"I almost pity you," he said, crouching down. "Almost. You Starks are too smart for your own good." He muttered something in a language that Toni didn't know and reached down, placed one hand on her chest, palm over her collarbone.

Toni's entire body seized up, and she started to convulse. She screamed, and the room began to dissolve into static, as something reached into her chest and wrapped around her heart. She heard Stane shouting at her, and then something in her snapped.

Everything went dark.

When she woke up later, she would find out that no one knew exactly what she'd done: the end results were very clear, but how she'd done it would remain a mystery.

She didn't want to know how she'd done it.

Yinsen and Rhodey had burst into the room after tearing through the enchantments on the doors. Yinsen had sensed the chaos while Rhodey had been drawn there by Ares, who had sensed something wrong with Jarvis and gone into a frenzy.

They had been shocked to discover the room utterly destroyed. Toni was slumped against the wall she'd been thrown into, Jarvis still in his huge daemonic form and curled around her protectively. She was barely breathing, unconscious, and the curse Stane had placed on her had left a large burn on her chest. Yinsen had immediately run to her, to try and negate the curse, but it was too close to her heart. He settled for a stopgap until they could transport her to the medical ward.

It wasn't until Toni was closer to being stabilized that the Council's investigators, digging through the rubble of the demolished lecture hall, discovered Stane. He was dead, with a massive hole blasted right through his chest.

A week later, days after the Ordaining Ceremony, Toni woke up. It was early in the morning, closer to midnight than to dawn. There was no moon outside, and the air was still.

She wasn't alone.

Jarvis was curled up next to her, and a familiar shape was perched on the end of her bed.

" _Me bambina,_ " Ana whispered sadly.

Toni couldn't sit up all the way, but she still tried, searching the dark corners of the ward for her mother...

"I am so sorry, darling," Ana said, and her body seemed to waver and come apart like dust. "I can't stay here much longer... I wanted you to know. She loved you, child. She loves you still."

"Ana--" Toni croaked, and Jarvis let out a mournful sound.

Ana dissolved into smoke, and Toni shrieked as the daemon disappeared from the mortal plane.

Toni was Ordained in a hospital bed, but there was no celebration.

She'd been unconscious so long in order for Yinsen to work a complicated charm that would offset the effect of Stane's fatal curse. Toni now had an intricate blue tattoo over the spot where the curse had entered her body.

The Council had found her actions to be in self-defense. Toni was not held accountable for Stane's death. She privately vowed never to use magick for violence again. She felt cold and hollow just thinking about the fact that she'd killed...

Of course, she just felt cold and hollow all the time now.

After she was cleared for visitors, her father's lawyer was shown into her room. He sat down and didn't try to sugarcoat his words.

On the night of Toni's confrontation with Stane, Howard and Maria Stark had been driving back into the city limits when Howard suddenly lost control of the car and sent them careening into a ditch. The car had rolled, multiple times. No one had survived.

There was no doubt in Toni's mind that the "accident" had been anything but, but she knew no one would believe her. The look on Stane's face as he ranted about her father kept flickering into her mind's eye... if Stane had had a hand in her parents' deaths, that meant he had had help. He'd mentioned "colleagues". She confided her concerns to her friends, who agreed. Pepper even suggested a bodyguard. Toni was too tired, too numb to even think about it.

She wasn't well enough to go to her parents' public funeral, so she performed the mourning ritual in private, with Jarvis at her side. Like her mother so many years before her, she spent the month and a day of mourning in black shrouds, her hair unkempt, doing very little magick.

Thoughts, of going to Cravenswood and of her future in the Craft, were put aside.

 


	14. Chapter 14

Toni was placed in Holding, and to add to indignity of the hour, she was placed in the cell that had specifically been bespelled by her own coven to hold magickal offenders. The forced separation from her Familiar combined with all the charms on the walls and the bars and the locks made her head spin, and she wasn’t good for much other than curling up in the corner and wincing at every loud noise. It didn’t help that the department thought she was a cop killer, and it certainly didn’t help that Thompson had managed to rouse up a good majority of the department’s sullen resentment of the coven, or Toni’s involvement in several cases, or whatever was their malfunction, because several cops made special visits to Holding just to rattle the bars and knock their billy clubs on the metal.

During one of the quiet stretches, Peggy managed to sneak in.

Toni looked up at the sound of her name in halfway-sympathetic tones to see Peggy kneeling by the bars, her shoulders hunched and her head ducked. She was gesticulating wildly, trying to urge Toni to shuffle over.

Toni couldn’t find it in her to stand up, so she butt-scooted along the wall until she was right on the other side of the bars.

“They don’t have much proof, it’s all on circumstance,” Peggy said in a low voice. “As hilarious as it was to see you emasculate Krzeminski in front of the entire station, that was probably one of the most damning things to do in this situation.”

Toni let her head thump against the brick wall and moaned. “Don’t need to remind me.”

Peggy sighed. “I’m sorry, Toni, but Thompson and Dooley are on a warpath. The sheer amount of circumstantial evidence plus a conservative judge…”

Toni moaned. “ _Miertè_.”

“Yeah,” Peggy agreed grimly. She patted Toni’s knee, and Toni dragged her gaze up to meet Peggy's eyes. “It doesn’t look good, but you need to tell the truth about _everything_. Dooley and Sousa are prepping the interrogation room, they want to make an example of this--”

The door to Holding slammed open and Thompson and Dooley strode in. Thompson’s impassive face split into a nasty grin. Dooley’s immediately darkened.

“Detective Carter,” he growled.

Peggy scrambled to her feet and faced the police chief, her eyes on the ground. “Chief."

Dooley stiffly pointed at the door. “Get out,” he ground out. “The suspect will have no more contact with unauthorized personnel. You are unauthorized personnel. Understand?”

Peggy nodded.

Thompson snapped his fingers at her and Peggy glared at him, but followed him out.

Dooley let out a sigh, shook his head, and rattled the keys. “Talkey time, Strega.” He stepped forward to unlock the cell door.

Toni winced at the noise and pressed harder against the wall as her head began to pound. “I’m not talking without my lawyer,” she slurred, as loudly as she could. “I want Jen.”

“Oh, she’s on her way.” Dooley swung the cell door open, the hinges squeaking as he did. “Why don’t we go keep her seat warm for her, huh?”

Toni glared at him. “I know my rights.”

“Of course.” Dooley bent down and grabbed her elbow, hauled her to her feet. “I understand.”

Toni repeated her demand for a lawyer four times in the time that it took Dooley to haul her into the interrogation room and throw her into one of the stiff plastic chairs.

Sousa was already sitting in the chair opposite, and he looked torn between grim determination and massive discomfort. "Uh," he said into the tape recorder at his elbow. "Cravenswood PD case number three oh nine two. Interrogation - Strega Antoinette Stark, October twentieth, nineteen ninety-eight."

"I am not answering any questions until my attorney is present," Toni said again.

"Acknowledged," Sousa answered, glancing up at Dooley. "In that case--"

"In that case, let me get my little show-and-tell set up," Dooley interrupted, dropping a thick filing folder on the table in front of Toni. "Just, just so that we're ready when she gets here."

He opened the file and began to pull out photos, tossing them on the table in front of her. "You remember Tania McGee, of course. Elena Cardenas. Ray Krzeminski." He dropped more photos, and they skittered across the metal tabletop. They were all of the victims, school photos and official portraits and candids and their crime scenes... Toni hadn't seen the crime scenes after Elena's, but now she couldn't look away, even as her stomach turned. Krzeminski had died with an expression of shock and horror on his face. Post-mortem bruising indicated a struggle.

Toni felt a wave of nausea wash over her and shoved a fist into her mouth, biting the knuckle to keep the bile down.

Damien Sharpe's school portrait dropped into her field of vision. "He was twelve years old," Dooley said quietly, and then pictures of the crime scene and the autopsy joined the rest.

Toni pushed away from the table and twisted to the side as she dry heaved, but Dooley grabbed her shoulder and turned her torso back to face the growing pile of photographs.

"What's the matter?" Dooley asked, his voice taking on a fevered pitch. "Can't handle a little gore?"

"Please stop--" Toni begged, her voice hoarse.

"And finally, we have the good Reverend." The photos hit the table with a _slap, slap, slap,_. "Five victims, three of which had one thing in common." Dooley jabbed a finger in Toni's face. "They picked fights with _you_."

Toni closed her eyes and tried to turn her face away, but Dooley pushed into her space, his mouth inches from her cheek.

"Now," he hissed. "What do you think that says?"

"I didn't kill them," Toni whispered.

"I don't believe in coincidences," Dooley said, the heat of his breath washing over her face. "Magick I can handle, but coincidences? Not so much."

Toni couldn't keep herself from shuddering. "Stop."

"I want this to end. What will it take to end this--"

"I don't know!" Toni tried to push Dooley away, but he grabbed her wrists and dragged her in close.

"No one in this town knows more about what's going on here than you," Dooley said, his eyes flinty. "And then we come to find out that this isn't the first time you've killed. How about that professor in New York, Strega Stark? They said it was self-defense, but that was a long time ago. Plenty of time for people to change, huh?"

"Chief--" Sousa tried to interject, but Dooley ignored him.

"Tell me, what is the truth?" Dooley demanded. "Why did _these people_  have to die?"

" _I didn't kill them!!_ " Toni screamed, and the lights overhead exploded. The tape recorder began to smoke before flying off the table, barely missing Sousa, and slamming into the wall behind him and shattering into dozens of pieces.

"Toni--" Sousa shouted, and Toni wrenched her hands out of Dooley's grasp as the tiny window shattered. The sound of a tornado filled the interrogation room.

Dooley shouted at her, but Toni was descending into a full-on panic attack and couldn't hear him. Her mind was filled with roaring static, and her body was starting to seize, curling into the fetal position. She tumbled from the chair and fell on her side, breathing harshly and feeling her fingertips go numb from lack of circulation.

" _Strega!!_ " Dooley roared, before an unseen force threw him back against the wall.

Sousa scrambled to his feet as the table was overturned, sending the photos flying. He yelled out, and the door to the room flew open as Steve barreled in.

"Toni," he shouted over the roaring winds. He took hold of her shoulders and hauled her into his lap. "Toni, you need to stop!"

 _I can't!_  she wailed silently, because she was _useless, helpless, never could do anything right_ \--

 _“Foolish girl... Did you think you could escape what you’ve done?_ ” Stane's voice hissed in her mind's ear. _"I almost pity you... Almost. You Starks are too smart for your own good."_

 _Leave me alone! You're dead!_  Toni buried her face in Steve's chest and howled, wordless and shrill.

"Toni," Steve said in her ear, gentle and soft and still cutting through the chaos she'd unleashed. "Toni, you are better than this. You can control it. Come down, come back to me."

The wind stopped, and the papers and photos that had been swirling overhead suddenly dropped to the floor. Dooley and Sousa were both pressed against the walls, breathing harshly and staring in bald shock at Toni.

Toni sobbed in a breath, but her body was still wound tight, and her face was still pressed to Steve's shirt. _Don't hurt anyone else, don't hurt anyone else, can't hurt anyone else, never again never again never again never again--_

 _Mistress!_  Jarvis's voice whispered in her head, _Mistress, I am here! I am here, you are all right. You are not alone, Mistress._

Toni fell silent, and the static in her head cleared, "Jarvis?" she whispered.

 _I am here, Mistress._  The bond was still stretched thin, but the warmth radiating through it to her helped bring back feeling to her arms and legs, and she realized that her fingers were tightly clutching at Steve's shirt, holding him to her tightly.

Steve was rubbing circles into her back and whispering soothingly to her, quietly so that Sousa and Dooley couldn't hear exactly what he was saying.

"It's all right, you're okay, I'm here with you, shhhh..." He tightened his arms around her, and she was too tired to fight her desire to sink into his embrace, so she didn't. She breathed in the scent of his aftershave and the slight spice of his soap, familiar smells, good smells. Steve-smells.

She dragged in a breath and turned her head so that her nose wasn't digging into Steve's collarbone, and the fresh air hit her nostrils and the back of her throat, making her cough. "'M okay," she whispered.

Steve hummed, and Toni felt the vibrations in her cheek.

"Holy shit," Thompson said from behind Steve.

"Bloody Hell," Peggy said at the same time. "I  _told_  you all this wouldn't work."

Jen showed up a short while later with absolutely nothing to show that she'd spent the hour after Toni's arrest arguing with a judge for some kind of leniency. Peggy had been right - the judge that Dooley had gone to was an extremely conservative hardass from a Good Southern Baptist Family, and while he wasn't as bad as Stryker with his anti-Witch sentiments, he was certainly not very unbiased. To make matters worse, he saw Stryker's murder as an attack on Christianity itself. He refused everything Jen said, including bail and house arrest.

"These Witches used to do this stuff in the Dark Ages," he'd told her. "They got away with it because God's people hadn't had the chance to catch up with technology. Now, we got no excuse. She will stay in the CPD's custody until she can be proven innocent, or until it goes to trial."

Reed and Sue spoke up on behalf of the Council, citing protocol of their own, and the judge refused to acknowledge their authority.

"This is my county, and I'm proud to uphold our good Christian laws," he'd sneered. "Last thing we need is for _you people_  to close ranks. Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do."

"What if I got our parish pastor to vouch for her?" Jen asked.

"Oh, I know about Matt Murdock. He's one of those liberal young pastors." The judge scoffed. "Forgetting traditional values, that's what happens when the Church embraces the hooligans of the modern day."

"This isn't very Christ-like," Reed pointed out - he knew, he'd studied Christian mysticism, and there were plenty of Christian Witches out there. But he'd said it with his usual lack of societal grace, and so the judge's expression had turned stormy.

"She stays in prison, where she belongs!" he'd snarled. "Now get out!!"

Jen was shortly thereafter shown into Toni's cell; after Dooley had recovered his composure, he'd put her back in Holding and stormed off after once again forbidding any unauthorized personnel to come in contact with her. This still included Peggy and now Steve, so Toni was once more curled up in the corner after she'd been literally carried back in - her panic attack and magickal outburst had sapped her energy reserves. She suspected her blood sugar was also dangerously low, so Jen had thrown a fit until someone donated a granola bar to keep Toni from passing out in custody.

"You did okay," Jen reassured her as Toni munched on the stale snack bar. "They had no right to question you without me present."

Toni shrugged, not up to talking yet.

Jen smiled tightly, then sighed. "It isn't looking good; doesn't help that all of the murders took place in the middle of the night, when you had no alibi."

Toni glared at her, and Jen made a face back at her.

"Hey, I'm trying!"

Toni closed her eyes and nodded slightly. "Yes, Jen, I know, I appreciate it."

"Maybe the killer will be caught tonight and you'll be exonerated?" Jen suggested dryly.

Toni shuddered. "Don't joke about that, that means that they would have to strike again."

Jen sobered. "Okay, I take it back." She squeezed Toni's arm. "The coven is working on it, and your brother is trying to pay your bail."

"They didn't set bail," Toni pointed out. "I haven't even been before a judge."

"They haven't really been following proper procedure," Jen grumbled. "I don't think there's a real precedent to this... they're trying to make an example of you."

"You're the second person to tell me that," Toni said tiredly.

Jen gently shook her. "Hey. You still got people on your side, okay?"

Toni nodded again. "What about Wanda and Pietro?"

"They told me to put their case on the back burner until I get you out of here," Jen answered. "They're worried about you, you're family."

"What did I do to deserve them for cousins?" Toni wondered. "How did I get so lucky?"

"Well, the stories I heard about Greg from before..." Jen shrugged. "I mean, good for him that he grew up but he was a right ass to you ten years ago."

"That was our father's influence," Toni answered. She smiled wryly. "One thing I'll give the man, he made sure I knew the value of a good lawyer."

Jen grinned at her, a fierce grin that belied her ferocious nature under all the professionalism. "There's always a silver lining."

Sousa showed up shortly after that to lead Jen away, and then Toni was left alone again for the afternoon.

Around dinnertime, Sousa showed up with a bag of fast food. "Sorry," he said, actually apologetic. "Finger foods only." He had a to-go cup of coffee as well.

Toni had been freezing all day. "Thanks," she murmured, accepting the food through the bars.

"Your brother is raising Cain," Sousa remarked. "Threatening to bring a New York lawyer out here, sue the county for unlawful imprisonment." He snorted. "Rich people got no idea how law enforcement works."

Toni didn't deign to answer that. She sipped at the coffee - it was absolute shit quality but it was warm. "Will I be spending the night here?"

"Well, it's the only cell specifically spelled to hold Witches so..." Sousa shrugged. "You know we can't just go on the honor system with this."

Toni sighed. "I didn't do it."

"We don't know anything for sure," Sousa allowed. "But think of this as a precaution."

"Can I at least have Jarvis in here?"

"The chief said no."

Toni glared at the detective. "Jarvis isn't a pet. He's magickally bonded to me, and in times of stress it is physically painful to be separated from him."

Sousa sighed heavily. "Toni..."

"Forget it, Daniel." Toni turned away from him and rifled in the fast food bag for a French fry. "You people don't understand."

"Well, is it true about that third nipple thing?" From the tone of his voice, he was joking, but it was still incredibly insulting all the same.

"Never ask that again," Toni growled. Admittedly, the effect was ruined by the fry in her mouth, but Sousa sighed again and apologized. He left her alone after that, and when she finished the sad excuse of a sandwich and coffee, she tossed the crumpled up bag with all the trash in it at the door. It barely made a noise, and so wasn't satisfying at all.

Toni let out a long, exhausted breath and tried to make herself comfortable on the cell bench as dusk fell and the light filtering through the small window died away.

The door to the cell swung open, and Toni sat up, confused. Then she screamed.

The sunken eyes of the Intruder bored into hers as it glided through the bars, grinning at her.

"Go away!" Toni shrieked at it. "Jarvis! _Jarvis!!_ "

 _Your daemon cannot help you, Strega,_  the thing whispered, and its "voice" felt slimy and unclean in her head. _By the by, thank you for leaving your protected house. So much simpler this way..._

" _Leave me alone!_ " she screamed, thrashing as it swooped forward and swept her up in its filmy wings.

She fell to the ground, having rolled off the bench, and woke up abruptly when she smacked her head on the ground.

Toni thrashed on the ground a moment before she realized she was alone in the cell, which was still locked up.

 _Just a dream,_  she realized. And then something clicked.

"Hey!!" she yelled, climbing to her feet. She stumbled to the bars and hollered again. "Hey, who's out there? Get in here! Hey!"

There was a shuffle behind the door to Holding, and then Officer Morita stuck his head through the door. "Why are you yelling? It's two in the morning."

"There's been another murder!" Toni said quickly. "I had a... um... a premonition." She clutched at the bars, trying to keep herself steady and upright. "Please, Jim, believe me."

Morita looked her over and nodded slowly. "Okay, where at?"

Toni froze. "I... I don't know..." she said slowly. "But--"

There was the shrill ringing of a telephone, and Morita hollered, "Dugan, get that wontcha!"

Dugan shouted something back at him, and then the ringing cut off. There was a long silence and Toni felt something awful building up.

Morita disappeared, and then Dum-Dum Dugan appeared in the doorway. "Your brother," he said gruffly. "He's been attacked."

Toni's mouth dropped open. "He-he can't be--"

"He's alive," Dugan said quickly. "He's at the hospital. We're going to go get his statement. Don't get your hopes up," he added, not unkindly. "It looks suspicious, your brother getting attacked after lobbying all day to get you out of prison."

"He's my _brother,_  I just want to know he's okay," Toni snapped at him.

Dugan looked her over and nodded. "Okay." He actually tipped his signature bowler at her before he disappeared, leaving Toni alone in Holding once more.

Toni paced for a few hours before succumbing once more to her exhaustion, and in what seemed to be no time at all she was awakened by someone opening the cell door.

The remnant of her nightmare was still sticking with her, and she scrambled off the bench and into a defensive position before she recognized Peggy's face.

Peggy stared at her. “Rough night?”

Toni coughed and swallowed. “Yeah,” she said, her voice scratchy.

Peggy bit her lip, getting red lipstick on her teeth, and her hesitation made the hairs on Toni’s arms and neck stand up. “I’ve got good news,” she said slowly. “And bad news.”

“Don’t play around with me, Carter, I’m not in the mood.”

“The good news is that you’re free to go,” Peggy said. “And your brother is doing well, and is asking for you.”

Toni blinked as her mind made the connection. “Oh, gods,” she breathed. “Who--?”

“The bad news: Miriam Sharpe was found dead this morning, out near where Damien died.” Peggy lowered her eyes. “Looks like Dooley owes you an apology.”

Falling to her knees, Toni breathed out slowly, and buried her face in her hands. “ _Carillon d’inferno,_ ” she said weakly.

Peggy nodded sadly. “Yeah.” She pushed the cell door open and stepped in, crouching down next to Toni. “C’mon, let’s get you out of here and back with Jarvis. He’s in the car.”

Toni found herself bundled into the back of Peggy’s sedan, Jarvis safely wrapped in her arms and purring loudly, as Peggy efficiently weaved through traffic to get to the visitor’s entrance of Mount Hope Hospital. It was still dark out, and Toni could sense the overhanging atmosphere of death and sickliness as Peggy pulled into the parking garage.

Toni hated hospitals, and today was going to continue to suck.

She slung Jarvis over her shoulder as soon as Peggy parked and climbed out of the car. Peggy’s door slammed right as Toni made a dash for the elevator that would take her to the side entrance, and she was pounding the button as Peggy briskly followed her into the vestibule.

“Bit impatient?” Peggy asked, and Toni made a distracted noise at her.

“Brother,” Toni muttered.

Peggy rolled her eyes. “I’m fairly certain his injuries aren’t life-threatening.”

“He got _attacked_  by a _serial killer_.” Toni groused. “My brother was nearly this crazy asshole’s next victim. Excuse me if I’m a little jumpy.”

Peggy sighed and put her arm around Toni’s shoulders to draw her into a hug. “Hey,” she said, and Toni went limp and let Peggy hug her. “Hey, Gregory is fine. You’re fine. Let’s take this one step at a time.”

“Peggy,” Toni said dully. “Someone else is dead and it was nearly my brother. I spent the night in prison. My cousin’s kids are probably traumatized. This has been a shitty month and it is not ending anytime soon.”

Peggy hummed comfortingly. “At least we’ve ruled you out as a suspect. Now we can focus on actually finding this fucker.”

The elevator arrived and dinged the doors open, and they separated and stepped inside.

Greg was actually just about to check himself out, just as Toni and Peggy skidded into the examination room.

“Mister Stark,” Sousa was saying, and then both he and Dooley looked up at the women as they froze in the doorway, catching their breath.

“Strega,” Dooley said stiffly, not meeting Toni’s eyes.

Toni gulped, but straightened her spine. “Chief.”

The silence that followed her acknowledgement was tense, and Sousa coughed uncomfortably.

“Antoinette,” Greg finally said. Toni looked at him, and he smiled wryly at her. “Long time no see.” His face was covered in lacerations and bruises, as were his arms and neck, but otherwise seemed to be fine.

Toni gasped out a surprised laugh, and had to grip the doorframe so she didn’t fall over.

“Are you done here, Daniel?” Peggy asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Almost,” Sousa answered, shrugging. He turned back to Greg. “Mister Stark,” he tried again. “Around what time were you attacked and receive those injuries?”

Greg’s face smoothed out, an expression that was very Howard-esque, and his eyes went dull as he thought. “Ah, well,” he said slowly. “It had to have been between one and two in the morning.”

“Why did it take you so long to come here for help?” Dooley asked, squinting at Greg.

“I am unfamiliar with the woods and the town,” Greg answered matter-of-factly. “I ran from my assailant and got lost in the woods, and then it took me longer to find my way back into the entrance. Thank goodness the patrol car was passing by when it did, otherwise I would have wandered around those woods for much longer.”

“Who was your assailant?” Toni asked, her eyes wide and her face drawn in horror.

Greg shook her head. “I… I’m sorry to say, it was dark and I was disoriented. It was a man,” he said, nodding affirmatively. “That I know for certain. But I couldn’t tell you what he looked like.” He rubbed one of the longer cuts on his arm, deep in thought. “He wore a black hooded robe and he had the hood up.”

“ _Carillon d’inferno,_ ” Toni said. Jarvis let out a low growl in her ear, sounding much more daemonic than catlike.

“Could it be that Beastly One that Peter Quill mentioned?” Peggy asked.

“Where did the patrol find him?” Toni pressed, and Dooley scowled at her.

“The east entrance to Craven’s Woods State Park,” Sousa answered.

“That’s near the Workplace Steve and I were investigating earlier,” Toni said, snapping her fingers. Something else connected, too. “And it’s where Kate Bishop says most of the strange activity in the woods is originating.”

“So this Plague is connected to the killer?” Peggy stared at her, aghast.

“Plague?” Sousa repeated, brow furrowed. "You mentioned it before--"

“Supernatural sickness,” Toni answered absently. “Trees and animals are dying, two human victims that we know of for sure, that’s why I brought Reed and Sue in from New York.”

Dooley let out a loud groan and threw his hands up in the air. “This doesn’t rule out any of your coven, Strega.”

“I would know if one of my own was committing murder,” Toni growled. “And all of us know better. We all were Ordained. We took vows to protect life and nurture it. All Witches are familiar with the great equalizing forces of the universe.”

“Apparently not,” Dooley pointed out. “After all, we arrested a ‘Hatemonger’ on the Shadow Council’s advice.”

“He violated his vows,” Toni snapped. “And having done so he will be tried before the Council for his crimes.”

“He broke Cowan laws as well,” Dooley’s voice rose, and a vein stood out in his neck. “But he - and probably your Beastly One, or whoever is doing all of this - will probably never face real justice.” Dooley glared at the linoleum in front of his shoe. “I don’t even know why we’re here.”

“Focus on the current crisis,” Peggy interrupted, striding further into the room. She leaned forward to examine Greg’s injuries. “So we have a lot of evidence pointing to the Beastly One, as the Fae call him, and it’s all originating from one area. You said that the Hatemonger would also know the Beastly One.” Peggy glanced at Sousa. “Where do we go from here?”

Sousa made a face. “Well, since we know for a fact that Toni couldn’t have committed the murder of this morning, I think it would be in our best interest to loop her back in on the investigation…” he eyed Dooley to gauge the chief’s reaction. "I know Rogers will agree with me. Vocally, too..."

Dooley sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat. “Go ahead. Banner will probably tell us what we all already suspect.” He left, shoving past Toni in his exit, and Peggy took hold of Sousa’s arm to prompt him to follow.

Sousa eyed Toni and Greg, and then hobbled after Peggy, shutting the door behind him.

“Are you alright?” Toni finally asked, looking Greg in the eye.

Greg shrugged. “I think I got the better deal here, based on what I heard. I guess the killer found another victim to take my place?”

Toni’s face crumpled, and she nodded.

Greg scrubbed his face with his hands. “That’s horrible. Who?”

“Miriam Sharpe, the kid’s mom.” Toni felt herself wilt a little again. Jarvis slid from her shoulders and wound around her ankles. “I have no idea what she was doing out near her son’s death site… How did you end up in Craven’s Woods in the middle of the night, anyway?”

“That I can answer,” Greg said, sliding off of the examination table. “I woke up in my room at the Parkers’ and felt like something was calling me out to the woods… so I got up, put my trousers on, and followed the voice. I woke up, really woke up, miles away from the bed-and-breakfast. I don’t remember walking there.” He shrugged as he began to put his jacket back on. “I think I was under some kind of spell…?”

Toni nodded. “That makes sense.” She sighed and grabbed his arm. “I’m so sorry you got dragged into this…”

Greg shook his head at her. “Antoinette, this is most certainly not your fault.”

“I think it is,” Toni whispered. She took hold of Greg’s chin and turned his face towards hers. “Oh, wow,” she breathed. “You got scratched up bad--”

“It’s really nothing,” Greg reassured her, but Toni still cupped his cheeks in her hands and focused, trying to draw in enough Power to at least alleviate some of the hurts he’d sustained.

Except it felt like trying to bespell nothing.

Toni frowned and tried again, and felt her Power run into pure nothingness, dissipate and skitter away from her fingers like wisps of smoke. “I… I can’t heal you…”

Greg took hold of her wrists and smiled, an unfamiliar smile that was both wry and weary. “Don’t worry, Antoinette. It’s only bruises.”

Toni nodded slowly, still unnerved by the lack of effect her magick had on her brother’s wounds. _Is it because he sustained them while fighting the Beastly One?_  she wondered.

“I’m sure Peggy will be willing to drop you back off at your residence,” she said aloud, and Greg made a noise of relief.

“Thank goodness,” he said. “I think I need to… I need to sleep, nothing feels real at the moment.”

Toni nodded in agreement. “I feel the same.” She knelt down to scoop up Jarvis, and they left the hospital room in search of Peggy.

Toni was not surprised to find Wanda and Pietro sleeping on the couch and in the big armchair in the front sitting room, and Reed and Sue still awake in the kitchen.

“Do you sleep?” she quipped. “Ever?”

Reed snorted and Sue was immediately on her feet, hurrying forward to sweep Toni into a hug.

“Oh, oh my gods, oh,” Sue squeaked. “I’m so happy you’re okay!”

“I literally spent one night in prison, I’m fine--”

“And of course,” Reed chimed in, his face grim. “The only reason they would have let you out would be because you were exonerated.”

Toni buried her face in Sue’s shoulder. “The mother of the boy who died… she’s--”

“Oh,” Sue whispered soothingly, squeezing her tighter. “Oh, I’m so sorry…”

“The killer nearly got Greg,” Toni added, her voice muffled by Sue’s hair. “He got away with scratches and bruises, but he survived. And yeah, he cleared my name. Couldn’t give a positive identification… any of the guys in the coven could be under suspicion--”

Reed smiled wryly. “From what I understand, the entire coven has been under surveillance for the past day or so. There was a patrol car sitting on the house all day today.”

“Dooley could watch the coven sitting in a room right in front of him during an actual murder taking place somewhere else and still suspect one of us,” Toni muttered, and Sue hummed and patted her back.

Toni allowed her friend to comfort her for a moment longer, then leaned away. “The Beastly One,” she said, wiping at her face. She couldn’t cry, but she still got splotches on her cheeks. It sucked. Fucking Witchy nature. “We need to find him.”

“And I think we can help with that,” Sue said, taking Toni’s arm and guiding her to the nearest stool. “Do you think that the chief will let us interrogate Kimmel now?”

Toni nodded, brain finally kicking into gear. “Probably...”

“Carol would be more than capable of helping us wrangle the truth from him.” Sue tapped the counter, her eyes narrowed. “He could give us a name.”

Toni sucked in a breath. “Hell’s bells and devil spells... We need to act, right away,” She said, lunging for the kitchen phone and punching in a number she knew by heart.

Steve picked up on the second ring, sounding terse. “Rogers.”

“Steve, we need your help.”

“Toni? They let you out?”

Toni waved a hand, even though Steve couldn’t see it. “Steve, shit has happened. I’ll fill you in. All you need to know now is that we’ve got to get Karl Kimmel into interrogation. This is going to end, today.”

“Music to my ears,” Steve said, and she could hear the wicked grin in his voice. “Let’s do this.”


	15. Chapter 15

After Toni managed to snatch a nap and some decent food, Happy showed up to drive Toni and the Richardses to the station.

"Don't be worried, Happy," Toni told him, after noticing the white-knuckled grip he had on the wheel. "We're finishing this today."

"I hope so," he muttered. "It would be nice to wake up without hearing about a horrible murder happening overnight."

"I'm with you on that."

There was silence in the car, and then Happy coughed. "Pepper won't say it, but she's really nervous, she's jumpy all the time. I'm starting to wonder if we would be better off back in Manhattan."

Toni stared at him, while Reed and Sue sat tense and silent in the backseat. "You're thinking about leaving?"

"When I say 'we' I mean... all of us." Happy didn't look at her. "The coven. All of us."

"This is... we've..." Toni felt her heart breaking, but a small, quiet part of her agreed with him. "This is our _home!_ "

"Yeah, except the people here are quick to turn on us, on _you_ , when things get weird, even after everything you've done." Happy sighed. "I said before that you do plenty for this town. I still believe that... it's just that now, I see that this town is full of people who will never see it as enough."

"It isn't the whole town," Toni argued. "It's a small percentage and the rest are just scared--"

"And what happens when the next big bad thing comes to Cravenswood? We gonna do this dance all over again?"

Toni fell silent, and after a moment, Happy awkwardly patted her arm.

"I didn't say I was _gonna_  leave, or demand to. I just..." He shrugged "I was thinkin'."

Toni nodded, wordlessly, and no one spoke for the rest of the car ride.

Kimmel was being kept in a secure lockup, awaiting extraction to Chicago, where the Council would convene to proceed with the trial. Reed and Sue had managed to Bind his magick, preventing him from escaping or causing more trouble. They'd also apparently attempted to question him, but without Carol there to work her charms he merely taunted them or sat in chilly silence.

Today, Carol was more than happy to come down to the station and stalk in, her golden hair mussed like a lion's mane. Apollo sat on the backing of her unused chair as she walked widdershins around behind Kimmel, who was still cuffed to the chair. He eyed her as she walked, and she shot him a venomous smile in reply.

"Who called you here?" Toni finally asked in the most authoritative voice she could manage. Jarvis was perched on the table to her left, once again sitting like one of Bastet's messengers. Toni was well aware that two sets of piercing yellow eyes glaring at someone in the same pissed-off way would be unnerving enough, but with Carol weaving her special truth charms around Kimmel, he was assuredly going to talk.

Kimmel twisted and growled at her, and Sousa made a noise to her right, but Toni didn't flinch.

"Tell us, how often did you feed off of the chaos you strewed around that church?" Toni said, stroking down Jarvis's back. She must have looked like a Bond villain, but at the moment she didn't care.

Kimmel glowered at her. "Daily," he hissed, sounding like the answers were being dragged out of him.

"Mmhmm," Toni said dryly, drumming her fingers so that the long nails tapped on the table. "Why did you come here?"

"Stryker... hid me here..." Kimmel heaved a labored breath and let out a keen. "Get out of my head."

Carol glared at him. "I wouldn't touch whatever's in your head for all the money or Power in the world, you Nazi."

"Did you know that the Third Reich had a High Wizard?" Kimmel grinned savagely. "Johann Schmidt was so gifted that the Führer--"

"That is _enough_." Sousa snapped, slamming a hand down on the table. "You're scum, you know that?"

Kimmel sneered at him, but Carol kicked his chair and made him refocus on her. "Speak when asked a question, buddy," Carol said in a low, dangerous voice. "Keep focused on the present."

"The present?" Kimmel laughed harshly. "You wish talk now about the present? I will tell you now about the present." He jerked his chin at Toni. "This one, she has been visited."

Sousa and Carol blinked at her, and Toni narrowed her eyes. "What in the Seven Hells do you mean by that?!"

"Haven't you noticed by now?" Kimmel asked mockingly, and Toni resisted the urge to hex him. "Have your dreams been filled with your worst imaginings? Have you been stalked by an unknowable force?" He giggled, leaning back in his seat. "He said to me, _Karl, there is only one way to get rid of that uppity Witch everyone worships._ " He toyed with his fingers, his grin taking on an unhinged bent. " _We gotta drive her **crazy**._."

Toni froze as everything started to make sense: her declining mental stability, her chaotic emotional state... her nightmares and mounting paranoia and hysteria...

"You did that?!" she demanded, enraged.

"Oh, I didn't do it," Kimmel yelled at her gleefully. " _He_  did!"

"Who?" Toni shouted back. She dimly realized she was on her feet, hands planted on the table in front of her. "Stryker??"

"Norman Osborn!" Kimmel bellowed, his eyes wide and crazed. "Norman Osborn! He called me here, to help clear you out! Stryker promised me his flock, but Osborn brought me here! Thank the Gods he did, or else I would have never found this delicious little town!" He laughed uproariously and Carol actually jumped back in shock.

Toni stared at the man as he collapsed forward onto the table, giggling. "Carol?"

"He broke my charm," Carol said, dazed. "Just now. He..." She peered at Kimmel, still cautiously leaning back. "Something... I can sense some kind of tether in him--"

"A way to keep him from betraying anyone," Toni muttered, disgusted. "He's useless to us now."

"But did you hear what he said?" Sousa piped in, looking at them. "Norman Osborn? The country club owner?"

"He wasn't lying," Carol pointed out. "Osborn is connected to this."

Norman Osborn had come to Cravenswood a few years before Toni and her coven had set up shop in town, and he had established one of the most disgustingly grandiose golf and country clubs in the county. People came from out of state to attend weddings and functions, and the club occasionally served as a convention center and a summer camp for the children of the ultra-rich.

Toni didn't often encounter Osborn in-town; he didn't mingle with the townsfolk much at all. The few encounters that she'd had with him, he had been a garden-variety creep; he made lewd jokes about coven orgies and had in fact asked her multiple times about spells to influence potential business partners.

" _Carillon d’inferno,_ " Toni said, running her hands through her hair. "He lives right near the east edge of Craven's Woods. He _has_  to be the Beastly One that the Fae are so afraid of."

"I have a feeling you're right," Carol agreed.

Jarvis put the call out, and about half an hour later found Toni and the rest of her coven, plus Reed and Sue and the detectives and the officers that were on-duty, all crowded into the station’s conference room. Dooley had called for a raid,

“The coven will be on the borders, watching for the creature Osborn Summoned,” Toni said to the police personnel. “We are your best defense against this thing. It doesn’t attack physically, but you really don’t want it getting to you regardless. I’m fairly certain it has been draining me of my emotional energy and physical strength since I first encountered it, the day after Tania’s murder.”

“Does that mean it’s attached to you?” Sousa spoke up, looking concerned and inquisitive instead of openly hostile.

Toni bit her lip and nodded. “It could well be, and that only makes it more crucial that the coven be out waiting for it before it can approach the Osborn property. Hopefully it would go for me first.”

“Osborn has been confirmed as the practitioner who released this daemon,” Carol added. “So there is a good chance that it will show up once we start raising chaos.”

“What do we do with Osborn once we have him?” Steve asked, and Toni sensed a thread of tension in him.

Toni took a deep breath. “He’ll be tried by the township of Cravenswood and Timely County before the Shadow Council gets him,” she promised. “Reed and Sue will see to it.”

The Richardses nodded. “He broke several laws across the various cultural structures,” Reed said. “He’ll answer for all of them.”

Steve didn’t look satisfied, but thankfully didn’t press the issue.

“There is a good chance that no one in the household is involved with this or even knows what Osborn has been up to in the woods, so we are not going in guns blazing,” Dooley said, crossing his arms. “Remember, he has a teenage son and a small staff in that house with him. We’re just going in for Norman, no one else.”

“If we’re lucky, this will wrap everything up before noon.” Reed added.

Sue smacked him on the arm and Toni glared at him, but it was Peggy who made an unladylike noise and rolled her eyes. “Don’t jinx it, Streghe Richards.”

The raid went as planned, except for one thing.

The Witches fanned out around the border of the property, and they skated close to the edge of the tainted Workplace, but they didn’t see a whisper of the trespasser daemon as they held the perimeter. Toni and the Maximoffs and the Richardses had already caught the scent of the creature after its breach of the Carbonell Manor, and thus were on sharper lookout for it, but to no avail. Nothing even approached the Osborn house grounds.

“This is unnerving,” Pepper shouted to Toni, her green eyes wide in the foggy haze of the woods. “I really don’t like this place!”

“There are no birds singing,” Jan added, her face pale.

That sealed it. Toni scanned the surrounding woods once more, but nothing stirred at all.

“The trees are dying,” Hank reported, sounding unnerved. “This is worse than before.”

“Everyone focus. We can’t do our jobs if this thing shows up and messes up the arrest.” Rhodey had brought a blasting rod with him for defense, and he swung it at his side, stirring up eddies of mist.

They waited, and it wasn’t until Sousa limped out of the mansion and tapped Toni on the shoulder that they broke their vigil. “You’d better come see this. Thor and Jane too.”

Toni called for them and the others moved to fill the gaps in the perimeter as they followed Sousa in.

They passed Harry in the foyer, and the teen looked terrified out of his wits. “Strega,” he called out, and Toni paused so he could draw even with her and look her in the eye. His hands were shaking. “Strega, please, he’s not well--”

“Harry, I don’t know what to tell you,” Toni said softly. “Is there somewhere you can go while all of this gets worked out?”

Harry lowered his eyes. “Peter and his uncle are coming to pick me up.”

“Okay. You go hang out with Peter and the others, and we’ll see what we can do for your father.”

“He didn’t kill anyone,” Harry insisted. “He wouldn’t. Besides, he’s been sick.”

“Okay,” Toni said, nodding. “But we’ve got to make sure of it, all right?”

Harry nodded. “You don’t believe me.”

“I don’t know what to believe, hon.” But Harry was already disengaging, curling up into himself, and Toni was pulled back into the procession upstairs to Norman Osborn’s rooms.

The man himself was still in bed, and he looked like absolute hell.

_Harry wasn’t kidding,_  Toni realized, clapping a hand over her mouth. The room reeked of sickness and uncleanness, and Osborn looked like a man twice his age on his deathbed.

“ _Carillon d’inferno,_ ” Thor murmured, and Jane gasped. “The Plague.”

Osborn hacked out a laugh, and his rheumy eyes fixed on Toni. “Strega Stark. What an honor.”

Sousa, hovering by the door, turned his face away and coughed, and Jane stepped back to shoo him away.

“Norman,” Toni said quietly, eyeing his hands on top of the covers. The nails were all overgrown, curled and yellowing, like claws. The skin on the man’s neck was almost scaly, and his skin was almost greenish.

He grinned at her, and his face was stretched like that of a goblin. “I was wondering when you’d come to me. Come to beg me for relief?”

Toni eyed him distastefully. “I don’t beg, and you know it.”

Osborn laughed, a harsh wheeze that turned into another hacking cough and made them all flinch. “Oh, but you’ve seen it. You’ve seen my helper.”

Toni narrowed her eyes. “Helper?”

Osborn's voice dropped, and she almost had to lean in to hear him speak. “ _Da'gugtabo_ ,” he whispered, almost reverently. “The snatcher of minds.” He bared his teeth in a feral smile, less man and more monster. “I told him to find you. Cut off the head and the body dies. Guess what you are.”

Toni blinked. “Da’gugtabo?” she repeated, tracing the goddess circle on her chest for protection. “So you admit that you Summoned him?”

“He knows your fears,” Osborn hissed gleefully. “He knows your fears and your wishes and your every failing, and he loves it, he loves what he sees--”

“Mistress,” Jarvis murmured at her side, but Osborn was still talking.

“He’s been visiting you, you know!” The man chortled, and it was like listening to stone crack. “In your dreams! You’re weak now, because of him! So, so weak!” He started laughing, and his maniacal laughter turned into hysterics. “So weak! Can’t protect your coven if you’re corrupt! Corrupt, corrupt corrupt--!”

“ _Carillon d’inferno,_ ” Toni muttered, and waved to Thor and Jane. “Stabilize him for transport. He’s going to the prison ward at the hospital.”

Thor and Jane nodded briskly, drawing the goddess circle themselves, and moved forward as both Woden and Frija clung grimly to their shoulders, wings spread as if in an attempt to protect their masters.

Toni turned her back on the giggling man and moved as quickly as she dared, desperate to get out of the wretched bedroom.

She met Steve and the other detectives at the base of the stairs.

“We have a name for the creature he Summoned,” Toni reported. “And it turns out that he indeed specifically Summoned it to attack me, and it robs the sanity from anyone it encounters.”

“What’s it called?” Sousa asked.

Toni shook her head. “It’s best we don’t speak its name if it’s not necessary to. These things draw power from their true Names.”

“A devil of old?” Peggy ventured, and Toni shrugged.

“So you can get rid of it,” Steve pressed.

Toni sighed. “Yes, now that we know what we’re dealing with. I’ll have to be cleansed first, since it’s managed to latch onto my energy, but that’s easy enough to do. Once the full moon rolls around, we can send it back through the Gast Duru and then close it and cleanse Osborn's Workplace.”

Thompson was standing a ways back, and he actually looked disgruntled. “So that’s it, huh? All nicely tied up?”

Toni made a face at him. “Not quite. Osborn is sick with the Plague that’s been going through town, and he’s out of his mind at the moment. He didn’t even mention the murders. Thor and Jane are going to accompany him to the hospital and try to get him recovering, and in the meantime you can question him and look for connections between him and the victims.” She fought the urge to sneer at the man. “Is that good enough for you?”

Thompson glowered at her, and at that moment Dooley stepped out of the study, followed by Osborn's butler.

“It’s gonna have to be,” the police chief said. “Right, Sousa and Carter accompany the Streghes Blake to the prison ward. Take Romanoff, Knight, Farnsworth, and Jones with you. Between you lot, Osborn won’t be able to pull a vanishing act.”

“Yessir,” Peggy and Sousa said, and Dooley gestured at them all to disperse.

“Thompson and Rogers stay here with the rest of the officers, sweep the house and look through all this mess. We have _got_  to connect Osborn to the victims, or else we lose our prime suspect.”

Both Thompson and Steve grunted their affirmations, and Toni tried to make for the door, her part done for the moment.

Steve caught her arm. “Hey, it’s been nuts, but are you okay?”

Toni shrugged. “I think so. Mostly.”

Steve peered at her, not believing her. “Well, good work today. Go home and get some more sleep; I’ll call you if anything else happens here.”

Toni smiled faintly at him and patted his arm, then stepped back outside to rejoin her coven.

Steve kept his word: he called later on in the day to report no connections to the murder victims. Toni couldn’t say she was surprised, but thanked him regardless and hung up.

“I really hoped it would be that cut-and-dry,” Wanda said quietly, sipping at her tea. She smiled wryly and met Toni’s gaze. “Guess we don’t always get what we wish for.”

Toni made a face at her.

There was thumping on the stairs, and then Billy and Tommy ran into the kitchen, stomping on the hardwood floors. “Aunt Toni, Aunt Toni, we found something!”

“Oh?” Toni asked as they skidded to a halt in front of her. “Show us?”

Tommy held it out proudly in a grimy hand, and Wanda made a matronly noise about dirt from her perch at the kitchen table.

“We found it in the attic,” Tommy said excitedly.

“There’s tons of other stuff in those closets,” Billy added, his dark eyes sparkling.

Toni’s forehead wrinkled as she peered at the crumpled necklace in Tommy’s palm. “Hm, I’ve never seen this before…”

Wanda leaned in, eyebrows raised. “Ooh, our mother had one. This must be Aunt Maria’s.”

Toni held out her hand for the necklace, and Tommy deposited it in her palm. “Thank you, Tommy,” Toni said absently, holding up the medallion to the light and examining it.

“It’s a Lucia medal,” Wanda said helpfully. “All the Carbonell twins got them. I inherited Mama’s, and Pietro got one from our father as a gift, after Grandmama and Grandfather died.”

Toni turned the gold medal over and examined the engraving on the back. “The family crest and bloodline motto,” she mused, tracing a finger over the inscription. “ _La famiglia d’Aradia, di la sangua fada, di la ossatura diella Deava_.”

“We must remember who we are, after all,” Wanda intoned in a deep voice reminiscent of her father, and Toni snorted at her.

“You should wear it,” Billy said suddenly, his tone odd. Toni looked up at him, and the boy’s expression was strangely intense. He met her eyes, and they glittered with a premonition she wasn’t privy to. “It’s yours.”

Toni’s eyebrows went up. “Can I at least wash it first?”

The spell was broken and Billy’s eyes twinkled. “Ew, duh!” He made a face, and he and his brother ran out of the kitchen, squealing.

Wanda laughed softly next to her. “God, those two adore you.”

Toni smiled sadly. “I’m glad. They’re good kids.”

Wanda was silent for a moment. “You’d make a good mother, you know,” she said hesitantly. “I’d trust you to raise them if something happened to me and Pietro--”

“Which it won’t,” Toni interrupted. “Because now we all have matching medallions.” She jingled the one in her fist.

Wanda narrowed her eyes at her, and Toni sighed.

“I… I know,” Toni said quietly. “I appreciate the thought.”

Wanda bit her lip and put an arm around Toni’s shoulders, squeezing her gently. “You should adopt,” she said. “There are tons of kids out there that are desperate for a mom, especially one as cool as you.”

Toni smiled weakly. “Maybe one day. I just don’t think now is the time.”

Wanda squeezed her again, then let her go so Toni could retreat to the laundry room to wash the medallion off and compose herself in private.

_Yinsen sat silently in the visitor’s chair and then patted her elbow. “I am sorry, Antoinette,” he said, and truthfully. “You are so young, and to be robbed of the choice before you are even of age--”_

_“There’s no way to fix it?” Toni demanded, more tired and sad than anything. “No chance at all?”_

_“I’m afraid not,” Yinsen answered evenly. “I… Stane’s curse did more lasting damage than I was able to reverse, and my higher priority was keeping your heart beating.”_

_Toni clutched Jarvis to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut, weary and tired and in a dark emotional place, worse than when she’d received the letters from Howard and Greg._

_Barren at fifteen. Wasn’t that just a kick in the teeth._

_There went the dreams she’d nursed, ever since she’d gotten to hold her infant cousins years before, when Magda had visited for the first and last time. The thought of a little boy with her eyes, a little girl with her mother’s curls and bright smile, a home filled with noise and laughter, a loving husband, father to her children... all gone, in an instant._

_Toni breathed in, out, in, out, and wished desperately, not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, that Witches were capable of crying._

The image on the front of the Lucia medallion was of Aradia, the Daughter of the Goddess and the Strega Mater. She’d been carved in such a way that her expression exuding serenity and peace, and Toni thoughtfully rubbed her thumb over it.

“I wouldn’t mind peace,” she said, and clasped the cleaned necklace around her neck.

Peace was long-coming, it turned out.

Hank called an hour later with a report: someone had smashed the display windows of Jan's shop with a rock emblazoned with the words "for Damien" shortly before they'd opened.

Darcy was driven from the clinic shortly thereafter by a mob of young adults wearing Halloween masks and brandishing baseball bats. She hadn't even gotten inside to unlock it.

Carol showed up on the manor's doorstep to grimly tell Wanda not to bother coming in to the tattoo parlor. Someone had broken in, smashed all of the equipment, and urinated on all the furniture.

And around two in the afternoon, a crowd of shouting, jeering people appeared on the manor's lawn.

Toni called Steve immediately, and he showed up with Luke Cage and Natasha Romanoff, followed shortly by Dum-Dum Dugan and Gabe Jones.

"Okay, everyone," Dum-Dum bellowed, his deep voice easily booming over the shouting. "This is private property, so be nice and disperse for us, got it?"

"Arrest them!" one man yelled, setting off another wave of noise.

"Devil worshippers!"

" _Murderers!!_ "

"Justice! Justice! Justice!" the crowd chanted, and some of them actually waved shovels and rakes and pitchforks.

"We have a suspect in custody and it for sure is not one of the Cravenswood coven," Nat hollered over them. "Leave the justice to the police and disperse immediately."

The crowd roared back at them, and Nat scowled as she turned away to radio for something.

Steve joined Toni on the porch and glanced at her. "You all right?"

"They're still scared of me," Toni said dully. "Too scared to actually attack or anything."

"I don't understand why you don't just drive them off," Steve muttered. "You certainly put on a show in interrogation yesterday, so I know you're capable of it--"

Toni looked at him hollowly and pushed the door open behind her, beckoning for him to follow her. They didn't go further than the rug in the foyer, the door tightly shut behind them.

"I've only killed once," Toni said quietly, "and it was enough for an entire lifetime."

Steve sucked in a shocked breath. "You what--"

"Dooley didn't say?" she asked ruefully. "Would have thought he'd inform you of my true character."

"I know your true character," Steve said, frowning. "Now explain what you meant."

Toni lowered her eyes, kept her gaze fixed on bottom stair, and took a deep breath to steel herself. "In my final year at the Academy, I killed a professor in self-defense."

"So it wasn't premeditated," Steve said immediately, relief evident on his face,

"That's not all. I had to fight someone in New York, someone I once called a friend. He didn't die, but... He may never wake up again." Toni recalled the horror once she realized what she'd done to Tiberius after he had tried to hurt her, bare days after the confrontation with Greg. "It was... awful. It feels horrible, being responsible for harming someone." Toni shuddered. "I can't stomach using violent magick, martial magick, anymore."

"But you won't use it to defend yourself anymore?" Steve made a face. "I have seen you use magick to fight bad magick--"

"Never to harm or kill," Toni interrupted, meeting his eyes at last. "Never again."

She saw it in his gaze as he went back in his memory, recalling their first encounter with Loki, the times with Whitney Frost and Hammer and Vanko, each of whom had bones to pick with her and hers. Toni knew he was probably only then realizing how nonlethal she strove to be.

"I can't, Steve," she said quietly. "Please understand."

"You... I guess I don't know as much about you as I thought," Steve finally said, looking her in the eye again.

It was like someone had stabbed her in the gut with an ice pick.

Steve sighed and scrubbed a hand in his hair. "We'll get rid of this crowd and take care of all the police reports for the vandalism. Tell everyone to just stay home for a while, okay?"

Toni swallowed and nodded, and didn't speak as Steve took his leave.

Toni found herself in the basement hours later, staring at a still-sealed bottle of bourbon.

Jarvis was curled disapprovingly at her feet, and had made a very chilly protest initially as she'd pulled it out and set it on her worktable.

The label was faded, but it was still easily recognizable as one of Howard's preferred brands.

"This is Sisyphus's lot," she muttered. "I'll never be absolved of my past. Will I, Jarvis?"

Jarvis made a low noise of discontent. "You are under the mistaken belief that you are being punished."

"Aren't I?" she shot back at him. "I've done horrible things--"

"No," Jarvis said firmly. "You had ample opportunity to be so much worse. Don't think Ana didn't tell me of your childhood."

Toni closed her eyes, achingly thinking of her mother's Familiar. "I still--"

"You could have become irresponsible," Jarvis interrupted her. "But you instead forged your own solutions and became a powerful coven leader all on your own. You chose to give up drinking and have strived to be compassionate and proactive with those lucky enough to share in your life. You are not being punished for defending yourself, and the fact that you believe that you don't deserve the right to protect your own life speaks more strongly to the fact that your own family destroyed your self-worth before you were old enough to operate a motor vehicle. Thank the Gods and Spirits your mother sent you away from Howard Stark, or you would have turned out like your brother."

Toni regarded the bottle again. "I... I don't feel strong enough," she admitted. "The intruder... I think it's still feeding on me."

"The answer is not to drown your sorrows in liquor," Jarvis insisted. He jumped into her lap and rubbed against her, purring. "Call your friends and ask for their help."

"I already ask so much of them," Toni pointed out.

"The nice thing about friends, I find, is that despite this, true friends are always willing to help each other out," Jarvis answered.

Toni breathed out slowly and kissed her Familiar on the head. "I would be dead without you, Jarvis."

"Thank the Gods and Spirits that I got to Answer you seventeen years ago," Jarvis replied, purring even louder.

Wanda and Sue were almost ridiculously relieved when Toni appeared from the basement, and doubly so when she asked their help in a ritual cleansing.

"This... thing," she said. "That Osborn Summoned. It's bringing out the worst in me. I want it gone."

"We know its Name," Sue said, smiling. "Should be easy."

The five adult Witches adjourned to the still-ruined conservatory, thankfully swept and free of glass shards on the ground, and quickly set up a Working Circle.

Toni vaguely noticed the boys pleading to be included, and Wanda's stern rebuff. It made her snort in tired laughter.

At dusk, Toni lay down on the ground in the center of the circle, arms crossed over her chest. Jarvis couldn't enter, but she could sense him with the other Familiars inside the house as they comforted the boys. He sent her a reassuring feeling, for which she was grateful.

“We’re going to put you to sleep now,” Sue told her, leaning over her. “When you wake up, you’ll be well.” She smiled, and Toni smiled back at her.

“Hit me,” she said, closing her eyes and feeling something cool and light settle over her face. The last thing she remembered was Jarvis whispering in her mind.

_I’ll be waiting for you when you wake up, Mistress._

 


	16. Chapter 16

_Toni took a deep breath and looked around at the featureless landscape, feeling more at peace than she’d been in weeks, and almost dreamy._

_“Glad to see you’re feeling well,”_

_Toni turned to face the white-haired woman, who was sitting in mid-air with one leg crossed over the other. Despite the color of her hair, she looked to be younger than Toni, and Toni couldn’t make out that much of her features, but her eyes were inhumanly bright._

_The woman smiled. “Hello, Sofronnia.”_

_Toni stared. “That’s my Name…”_

_“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.” The woman slid off of her invisible perch and lightly stepped next to Toni, and it felt like she was standing next to a power line._

_“You know,” the woman said quietly. “He’d love you if you let him.”_

_“Love me?”_

_“Yeah. You deserve to be loved. I mean, loved in the way you’ve always wanted.”_

_Toni tilted her head. “Who...?”_

_“You know who,” the woman answered cheerfully, gently nudging Toni with her shoulder. “Don’t overthink it.”_

_“No, who are you?”_

_The woman laughed. “I’m--”_

Toni woke up, feeling peaceful and refreshed, to the sound of Jarvis purring in her ear.

“Good morning, Mistress.”

Toni stretched and sat up in bed, yawning widely. “It’s morning?”

“Indeed. You slept for a while.”

“Hm.” Toni pushed the covers back and swung her legs out over the side of the bed. “Oh, wow, I feel better than I’ve felt since this started.” She stretched again and spun in a circle, sending her hair flying.

Jarvis sat on his pillow, watching serenely.

Toni suddenly had a thought of the remnants of a dream and stopped spinning. “Did you notice anything last night, as I slept?”

The Familiar shook his head, and Toni tried to remember her dream, but it was slipping away from her the longer she stayed awake. “I… huh.” She couldn’t recall it being a nightmare, or being frightened, so she felt okay not remembering it exactly.

She half-shrugged and grinned at Jarvis. “I’m going to shower and dress and get on with my bleedin’ day.”

“I’m so happy to hear that, Mistress,” Jarvis said, swishing his tail.

Toni snorted at him and ducked into her ensuite bathroom, humming a Stevie Nicks song under her breath.

She heard the tiny thumps of Jarvis dismounting to the floor and following her in as she stripped yesterday’s clothes off. Turning, she caught sight of her prominent breastbone tattoo, inked in blue and carved into the bone.

It was an intricate design, of a Working Circle enclosing a smaller Circle, adorned with runes and sigils. The central sigil was her own, her Name, and the ones flanking it were of Yinsen, his mark as a Healer, and the letters of the curse it was combating.

The tattoos she’d shown Steve weeks ago were still sharp and dark against the pale skin of her inner wrist. Along with those, there were the two tattoos on her lower belly, right where her ruined womb and ovaries were. They were in the shape of peonies, a thin vine winding between them, curling under her navel. She had more on her shoulders, roses in remembrance of her mother. The eye of Ra was inked on the back of her neck, and Nordic runes for wisdom and guidance designed by Thor on the inner wrist of her right hand. And there was one last mark, on her ankle - Pepper had done it, right after they’d moved to Cravenswood - a rune to call happiness and success.

Toni reflected back on the recent cleansing, and considered giving herself a new tattoo for protection against future malevolent attachments. It would be a good idea, in case more people like Osborn decided to try and drive her out again.

Deciding to design a sigil for later inking, she stepped into the shower.

Toni had finished washing away the previous day’s dirt and had managed to wrangle her hair into a braid when the doorbell rang. She heard Wanda answering it, and then after a quiet few moments, someone pounded up the stairs and threw her door open.

It was Pietro, and he looked frightened. “Steve is here,” he said. “There’s been another murder.”

Toni dropped the brush she was holding and stared at her cousin in shock. “But… but Osborn--”

Pietro shook his head. “He’s still in the hospital. CPD confirmed it.”

Toni looked to Jarvis in horror. “But… but…”

Jarvis looked as shocked as she was, and he shook his head. “It does not make any sense.”

Suddenly, Steve appeared in the doorway. “We need to talk,” he said, his voice stony.

Pietro looked between them both and quickly made himself scarce.

“Steve.” Toni drew her robe tighter around her waist.

Steve glanced at her, then shut the bedroom door behind her. “Toni. First off, I’m apologizing.”

“For?”

Steve sighed and leaned against the door, his face a study in incredible discomfort. “After you confessed to me yesterday, I went back to the station and did some digging.”

Toni found herself unable to look at him. She fixed her gaze on her dresser and steeled herself. “Okay.”

“I spoke to a bunch of people… Stephen Strange, he’s--”

“He’s on the Council,” Toni finished, still not looking at him.

“Yeah, he told me some things… mostly that what you said was true.” Steve shuffled, clearly very uncomfortable. “I mean, I never suspected you to be a cold-blooded killer. My gut told me you weren’t lying about it being self-defense. He just confirmed it.”

“Great,” Toni said.

“And he filled me in as much as he was allowed to, about the Hatemonger. Toni, Karl Kimmel was involved in some kind of diabolical cult in New York. That’s how he came into contact with Norman Osborn and William Stryker.”

Toni nodded. “Okay.”

“But that’s not all, he also met your brother.”

Toni sharply looked up, meeting Steve’s eyes. “What?”

“Your brother Gregory Stark recently got involved in a diabolical cult based out of New York.” Steve repeated, his gaze steady. “He went to meetings and seances and everything. Kimmel was teaching Cowans Summoning techniques, and giving them access to diabolical forces. That’s the biggest reason that the Council excommunicated him.”

Toni stared at him, shocked speechless.

“And about three months ago, something big happened. They don’t know what, but it was serious. It set off a chain reaction and really scared the covens out in Manhattan.” Steve chewed on his lower lip, but refused to break eye contact. “Your brother dropped out of society and quit showing up to board meetings and business obligations. Stark Industries is currently up for a hostile takeover.”

“What are you trying to say?” Tony whispered.

“I asked Reed yesterday, about something that nagged at me this whole time.” Steve wrung his hands, a nervous tic that was the only sign that he was really not happy about what he was about to tell her. “I told him about how you confirmed that the crime scenes were almost bleached, magickally speaking. He mentioned a phenomenon called Preternaturalism. Some people are born completely resistant to magick, and Witchcraft and all that. Osborn’s Workplace was tainted, you told me yourself. You _felt_  it. But the crime scenes were empty. I asked Carol to confirm for me, and she did. Every crime scene that this killer struck at is unnaturally clean of energy.” His forehead crinkled, and Toni felt sick.

“Toni,” Steve said slowly. “Have you been able to Work any magick on Greg?”

“I don’t do that,” Toni said faintly. “He doesn’t like me to.”

“Peggy said you tried to heal him yesterday in the hospital. You told her about it.”

“He was attacked by the killer,” Toni pointed out. “He had some kind of residue.”

“But the other victims aren’t resistant to magick,” Steve argued. “You were able to ward Tania’s body, and you didn’t notice anything strange about Elena’s.”

Toni felt her chest tighten. “He wasn’t even here for the first murder. He arrived the morning of.”

“Ben Parker was killed last night, right around the spot where patrols picked Greg up out of the woods,” Steve spoke over her. “I questioned May Parker this morning, and I asked her when your brother had arrived in town. She told me that he checked in the night before Tania's murder, and she mentioned to him that day how sad she was that he had come at such an awful time to Cravenswood.”

Toni couldn’t breathe. “Greg can’t do magick,” she said. “He hates it.”

“You said you had a falling out. Ten years later, three months after something big happens with Manhattan’s very own devil-worshipping cult that _your brother_  is a part of, he shows up in Cravenswood looking to reconcile with you the very same day a murderer starts a killing spree in town. And then, the murderer starts targeting people whom you have problems with and you end up suspect, only to be conveniently exonerated by your prodigal brother. Too many coincidences for my liking.” Steve crossed his arms.

Toni glared at him. “It has to be a coincidence. Greg is a Cowan like our father.”

“So is Osborne, and he managed to Summon a daemon all by himself and set it on you.” Steve narrowed his eyes. “Kimmel said under Carol’s charm that he had nothing do with the Summoning. You said yourself that belief can be so powerful, magick gifts aren’t always needed.”

“I refuse to listen to this,” Toni snapped. “You’re wrong.”

“Prove it. Give me one shred of evidence that doesn’t point to this.” Steve stepped forward, and Toni suddenly remembered just how tall and muscular he was, how imposing he tried so hard not to be. “I’m going to give my findings to the chief, and we’ll see what happens.”

“No!” Toni yelled at him, her hands balled into fists. “Don’t you dare go near my brother!”

“If your brother is a murderer, he will be brought to justice!” Steve shouted back, his face turning red. “I’m sorry if you don’t like it--”

“Get out of my house!” Toni screamed, throwing the nearest object she touched at him. It turned out to be a ceramic cup, which shattered when it hit the floor. “Fuck you! Get out! Stay away from us! _You Cowans are all the same_!”

Steve gave her one last unreadable look, then disappeared out into the hallway. Toni collapsed to the floor and let out a dry sob as Wanda and Pietro pushed her bedroom door open in shocked silence.

Downstairs, there was a loud slam of the front door, heralding Steve’s departure.

Toni left the house immediately for the Parkers' bed-and-breakfast, trying to get there before Steve could make it to the station and report his suspicions to Dooley. She took the Ford, not bothering to call Happy, and barely spoke a word to her cousins or the Richardses. She'd explain when she returned.

The street in front of the bed-and-breakfast was empty, which meant Greg was out. Probably getting lunch, considering the hour. Toni would have to wait for him there.

She parked the automobile and secured it, and then made an undignified dash up to the porch with Jarvis at her heels.

When May Parker answered her frantic knocking and took in her appearance, Toni realized just how bedraggled she looked. Her hair had come loose from its braid and she had literally thrown on the first dress she'd touched, which was almost embarrassingly thin and see-through. Toni tugged her wool shawl tighter around her and hunched her shoulders. "I need to speak to my brother."

May's face tightened, and her energy closed off. "Sorry," she said shortly. "He's not in."

"Could I wait for him, please?" Toni begged. "It's urgent."

The older woman breathed in a shaky breath and bit her lip. "I'm... not sure I feel comfortable with that."

Toni's entire body went cold and she had to swallow to moisten her throat. "May, you know I didn't do it. I'd never hurt anyone--"

"I'm sorry, please leave." May interrupted, slamming the door shut. Toni heard the deadbolt being slammed home, and footsteps walking away.

Toni stood dumbly on the porch, numb with shock.

"Mistress?" Jarvis said at her ankle, looking up at her in concern.

"Seven fucking _Hells!!_ " she ground out. "This was supposed to be ending!"

She was mature enough to not stomp off of the porch, but she did plop on her ass in the most inelegant fashion on the lawn. "Gods and Spirits, I just want it to end!" she shouted at the stubbornly gray sky. "You hear me?!"

Jarvis rubbed against her arm, and she pulled him into her lap and smothered her tantrum in his fur.

"Toni?"

Toni looked up and met the frightened brown eyes of May's nephew. "Pete?"

Peter was walking up the driveway, and he looked so small and tired that her heart ached. Peter had come to Cravenswood when he was only seven, after his parents died in a horrible plane crash. He had been withdrawn and depressed, and it had been right around that time that Toni had moved there herself. She had encountered Peter with his uncle in the town on a shopping trip, and had ended up spending an afternoon entertaining him with her flashiest little spells and tricks as he sat on the edge of the main square, Jarvis in his lap, clapping excitedly. Toni adored the kid, watched him stumble through puberty and everything... having known the Parkers for as long as she had, May's actions had stung harder than Toni was willing to admit.

Peter shuffled on his feet, then sat down next to her. "I... Are you okay?"

"No," Toni admitted, hanging her head. "No. Steve and I are arguing and the townspeople are still afraid of me and I think this is all my fault."

Peter sat silently for a moment, then let out a strangled sob. "I know it's not your fault," he said in a small voice. "Uncle Ben died because of me."

Toni stared at him, aghast. "What?"

"We had a fight last night," Peter admitted, curling in on himself. "Gwen's sick with whatever Kurt has, and I wanted to go see her, you know? But Aunt May and Uncle Ben refused to let me, and I argued with them because you guys found the bad guy, right? So I stormed out, and Uncle Ben followed after me, and the killer got him and it's all my fault--"

"Oh, Peter," Toni breathed, putting an arm around his shaking shoulders and pulling him into a hug. "Peter, sweetie, it is _not_  your fault. You just wanted to go see your friend."

Peter buried his face in her shoulder and heaved, and she shushed him and petted his hair until he got his breathing under control.

"So Aunt May kicked you out?" he finally asked, his breath only hitching a little.

Toni sighed and shrugged her other shoulder. "Pretty much."

Peter leaned away from her, and she could see him pulling himself together again. "Why did you need in?"

"I... It's silly," she admitted. "But I needed to talk to my brother about where he was last night..."

Peter gave her a long look. "You know," he said slowly. "I... I'm sorry, but... your brother. Greg... he made us uneasy, to be honest."

Toni felt the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck stand up. "Uneasy how?"

"Like... It was like we were bugs being watched by a spider, to be honest." Peter looked honestly sorry, but still earnestly frightened. "Like we were something to be eaten. And..." he reached into his messenger bag and pulled out a bag from Old Stan’s hardware store. “Well, it’s really weird, but right around Krzeminski’s… death… Uncle Ben was working on the lawn and got swarmed by wasps. But he couldn’t find a nest, and we had an inspector out here and everything. And…” Peter stared at the paper bag, his eyes unfocused. “They were coming from right around the window where your brother is staying.”

“Wasps?” Toni frowned. “That’s… that doesn’t--”

“And then Aunt May was in the kitchen and there was a buzzing in the vent, and we thought it was the wasps but it was just this… this mass of flies. Uncle Ben thinks we have an infestation of horseflies, but that doesn’t make any sense--”

Toni’s blood ran cold. “Are you sure they’re horseflies?”

“Well, no,” Peter admitted. “I’ve seen them. They’re too small for that. They look more like carrion flies, like what we had with the roadkill last spring--”

 _Carrion flies?!_  Toni glanced over her shoulder, made a snap decision, and then looked at Jarvis. "Keep watch. Let me know if Greg comes back."

"All right," Jarvis agreed, and he disappeared into the shrubs.

Toni turned back to Peter. "Pete, I need to see the room Greg is staying in."

He nodded. "I can get us in through the side door. I think Aunt May is out in the garden now."

"I don't want you to get in trouble, okay--"

"Toni, I trust you." Peter looked at her, and it was like that sad seven-year-old boy was staring back at her again. "You don't do this stuff unless you have to, right?"

Toni bit her lip. "I try."

"Okay." Peter got to his feet and Toni followed suit. "C'mon, it's around this way."

As Peter had said, May was working in the yard. Peter was able to let Toni in through the garage door and guided her to the room where Greg had been spending his nights, pointing out the flies crawling out of the heater register in the hallway. He had to snag the master keyring from the hook under the kitchen sink and unlock the door, but refused to go any further into the room.

“I… don’t like it in there,” he said, and Toni nodded and let him stand guard in the hall.

The room was neat enough at first glance, but Peter wasn’t lying; the buzzing noise was perceptible, vibrating the walls. And indeed, there were dead wasps all over the windowsill, their living siblings crawling all over the screen and the glass.

Toni began to toss the room. Her senses were on full alert as she pulled the bed apart and checked the usual hiding places: between the mattress and the boxspring, under the pillow, between the mattress and the headboard... She finally looked under the bed and discovered an old magazine. To her shock, it was a familiar old issue of _Marvels_.

Something sparked an old buried memory and she flipped the magazine open to the main story page.

 _Sensational!_  it proclaimed, _Unheard of! You will fear what lurks in the night!!_

Toni's jaw dropped as she read through the summary: _A bloodthirsty killer works his way through suburbia paradise, carving up his victims and taking trophies for his own personal... sinister uses..._

She recalled a dusty attic, an overstuffed chair, and the sunlight coming through a single window.

This was it. The ritual, she didn't recognize it because it wasn't magickal at all! But it was familiar, because she had read this very M.O. in her father's old _Marvels_  collection...

 _Too many coincidences for my liking,_  said Steve's voice in the back of her mind.

Toni tucked the magazine under her arm and continued her search, pawing through the drawers and the cabinet. The buzzing that had been a constant background murmur to her search suddenly began to swell, and flies began to crawl out of the nearest vent.

Toni recoiled in disgust before realizing that they were all headed towards the same destination: the closet. She strode over and steeled herself, then threw open the door.

Flies scattered into the room, sent into a frenzy, and Toni yelped and scrambled back as they swarmed around the small suitcase sitting on the closet floor.

Toni batted the flies away and grabbed for the suitcase, where the flies were concentrated. She dragged it out into the room and dropped it, releasing more flies. Her fingers were stung by something almost electric as she felt for the zipper, and with growing apprehension she pulled the suitcase open. When she saw what was contained inside, she recoiled in horror.

Two large mason jars were nestled in the suitcase, covered in flies, both filled with some kind of yellowish liquid... and in the liquid, several things were suspended--

Toni clasped a fist to her mouth and tried her hardest not to retch; those pink things had to be the victims' missing tongues, and the other jar _definitely_  had human eyes in it--

She heaved and pushed herself away from the suitcase, her mind filled with an echo of "Steve was right, Steve was right," as she tried to wrangle her emotions into something resembling calm.

It wasn't to be.

“Snooping, oh my. Naughty, naughty, naughty Witch.”

Toni yelped and fell to the side at Greg’s singsong voice. She scrambled to roll over and get to her feet again, gasping.

Greg stood over her, half-glowering and half-grinning. A _Clockwork Orange_ -style grin.

Toni wanted to piss herself. “Greg-- what is--”

“I would be angry with you,” Greg said, his voice a low rumble. “I mean, what you did, it’s illegal, you know that? But honestly, I just don’t have the time to waste. After all…” he tilted his head. “A certain Ms. Rogers is in need of a… reckoning, I believe.”

Sarah Rogers’s face, tongueless and eyeless, flashed in front of her mind’s eye. “No!” she shrieked. “Greg, no, wait--”

“Do stay put, Antoinette,” Greg said, drawing back his arm. “It’s not your turn yet.”

Toni shrieked again and tried to push him away, but something hit the side of her head and everything went dark.

_“I don’t get this, Toni. I swear you’re only doing this to piss me off!”_

_“For the love of all things good and pure, Greg!” Toni slammed a fist down on their father’s old desk. “I’m not doing it! I can’t believe you’d even ask!”_

_“You killed a man, don’t think I don’t know it!” Greg yelled, jabbing a finger at her. “I know what you did while you were away at Witch school, I know!”_

_“Then you know that I didn’t mean to! For crying out loud, it was self-defense--”_

_“And what’s so different from helping me out?” Greg demanded. “Think of it, protecting Americans from the Commies with the world’s first smart bombs and guns--”_

_“No!” Toni growled. “No. I will not be part of this bloody legacy. What happened to you, Greg? You and I had the same mother!”_

_“And she was weak!” Greg roared, looking more like Howard than ever before. “She was weak and spineless and a foolish bitch, and our father was tethered to her for sixteen years while she dragged him down!”_

_“ **Don’t you dare speak of our mother that way!** ”_

_Greg backed away, wide-eyed, as the windows to his office rattled and cracked and all the papers on his desk scattered in a sudden blast of wind._

_Toni closed her eyes and remembered what Pepper had told her before._ Cut the poisonous people out of your life. You deserve it. _“You’re nothing more than another Howard. Don’t ever contact me again,” she said. “Don’t try to find me. Don’t ever ask me to help you mass murder ever again.”_

_“Mistress,” Jarvis said, from his perch by the door._

_Toni nodded, not looking at her brother as she spun on her heel and left, slamming the door behind her._

“Toni! Toni, wake up!”

“Mistress!”

“What the hell happened here?! Peter, what’s--”

Toni gasped as wakefulness slammed back into her, bringing with it a monstrous headache. “Sarah!” She sat up, not even noticing the throb of the ache in her skull. “Sarah, oh fucking _carillon d’inferno,_  Steve was right, Greg’s the murderer, fucking fuck fuck _fuck!!_ ”

“What?!” May shrieked, backing away. “What is going on?”

“I’m sorry, May, I broke in, I made Peter help me, but I had to know and now I do.” Toni scrambled to her feet as Peter assisted her in keeping her balance. “Peter, I need you to call Sarah Rogers’s house right now.”

“Got it.” He pushed past May and disappeared into the kitchen.

“What is going on?” May demanded shrilly, looking terrified.

“Steve-- fuck,” Toni swore again, and Jarvis pawed at her ankle until she picked him up. “Steve suspected Greg of being the murderer so I came out here to confront him and prevent Steve from taking him in, only I found out that Steve was right. I’m sorry, May, but--”

“Your brother killed Ben?” May repeated faintly.

Toni closed her eyes. “I’m sorry, May. It’s all… I should have…” She lowered her head. “I’m going to stop him,” she swore. “It’s my fault. He’s my brother. I should have seen it.”

“I… I don’t--”

“She’s not picking up!” Peter skidded back into the hallway, cordless phone in his hand, looking terrified. “Mrs. Rogers isn’t picking up!”

“ _Fuck!_ ” Toni swore, and pushed past May. “I need to-- I’m going there, I’m going now. Lock your doors, stay inside, and alert everyone!”

The front door sprang open by magick, and she and Jarvis dashed out to the waiting car, only to find--

“ ** _FUCK!_** ” Toni screamed, when she saw the damage that she knew Greg had to have inflicted on her Model-T. The tires were slashed and the front of it was dented, and she fought the urge to throw an explosive tantrum. She turned to Jarvis. “We have to fly.”

Jarvis nodded and shifted into his winged form.

Toni closed her eyes and whispered the charm under her breath. “ _Vuela._ ”

And then she leaped, and took to the skies with Jarvis at her side.

She crash-landed on the front lawn of Sarah Rogers’s single-floor home and immediately felt the sensation of wrongness. She ran for the front door, only to find it smashed in.

“Sarah?” she called, worry tinging her voice with hysteria. “Sarah!”

She moved into the house, headed for the main living space, and heard a groan from the living room.

“Sarah!” she yelled, breaking into a run. She skidded into the carpeted sitting room and fell to her knees at the older woman’s side. “Oh my gods, Sarah, are you okay?”

“Steve--” Sarah wheezed, her eyes welled up with tears. “He-- Steve is--”

Toni looked up at Jarvis, who hadn’t shifted back into his smaller form. “Is Steve here?”

“We are alone, Mistress. There are no other heartbeats.”

“Sarah-- did my brother--”

“Yes,” Sarah gasped, clutching at Toni’s arm. “He burst in on me and Steve, _he took him_ \--”

Toni’s entire body went cold as images filled her mind’s eye, of blood and death and gore, and-- “Oh, gods, no… _Steve_!”


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See endnotes for warnings (spoilers!)

The first thing Toni did after getting Sarah into a chair and making sure she wasn’t suffering from anything life-threatening was call Peggy on the kitchen phone. Any other occasion, she’d be proud of how calm she was as she explained the emergency.

Right now, she just felt… anxious. And angry. And scared.

Mostly scared.

Peggy was terse when she informed Toni that she was on her way, and added that she was calling for backup. “If Greg is as dangerous as you think he is, we’re going to need it.”

“He was able to get the drop on me when I had Peter and Jarvis looking out for me,” Toni realized. “I don’t know how he did it.”

“It really doesn’t matter,” Peggy answered. “Stay put, Toni.”

“I’m going to find him,” Toni insisted.

“All right, but _stay put_.” Peggy hung up, and Toni glared at the phone in her hand.

In the living room, Steve’s mother was silent.

“You okay, Sarah?” Toni edged in, and took in the sight of the sixty-something-year-old Cowan woman petting Jarvis in his full daemonic form like he was still a housecat. Jarvis glanced at her, and she got a tingle of “eureka” in the back of her mind.

“I’ll be all right,” Sarah said quietly. She looked up at Toni. “You… you’ll find Steve, won’t you?”

“Yes.” Toni nodded, and glanced at the kitchen, the main scene of the struggle. “You said Steve fought him?”

“Like a badger,” Sarah confirmed fiercely.

“Good. Did… did either of them bleed?”

Sarah blinked at her. “I’m not sure…”

Toni caught Jarvis’s eye again and jerked her head at the kitchen. Jarvis got up and padded past her, head down, and began to pace the kitchen floor. He disappeared behind the counter into the cooking area and said “aha!”

Toni joined him, and almost whooped for joy when she found tiny droplets of blood, still wet, on the hardwood. She reached into her pouch and withdrew her scrying gem, and without any preamble, smeared her finger in the blood and then spread it over the crystal.

“Find him,” Toni muttered, feeling the energy building in her fingertips. “Find he who shed this blood, find him and take me to him.”

The crystal began to vibrate, and she let it drop while holding the chain. It began to circle erratically, before shooting straight towards the front door, in the direction of Craven’s Woods.

“Got you,” she hissed as the crystal stayed straight in the air, a steady pull. “Got you, got you, got you.” She strode down the narrow hallway, Jarvis behind her, and put her hand on the doorknob.

“Toni?” Sarah called from the living room.

“Sarah, stay put for the cops. We’re going to go get Steve back.” Toni spared a moment to push a protective charm into the metal of the doorknob, pulling it shut as best she could, before she and Jarvis leapt into the air again and took flight.

 _Stay strong, Steve,_  she thought fiercely. _I’m coming for you!_

 

The scrying gem didn’t flag when Toni and Jarvis landed in the outskirts of Craven’s Woods. In the back of her mind, Toni knew that taking Flight twice in one day, within an hour, was going to have severe consequences; her Power stores were already incredibly low, and she hadn’t even entered the woods.

The previous sense of foreboding and sickliness had become even more intense… it was almost like the woods were throbbing with nauseating energy, pulsing with noxious fumes. The trees were withering and peeling and wilting, the ground was absolutely covered with rotting leaves, and the fingers of a creeping fog surrounded them, smelling of death and decay and pain and horridness.

Steve was in there, bathed in all of this disgusting energy.

Toni immediately began to run, and she had a feeling she knew where she was going to end up. They weren’t far from Osborn’s Workplace, and they hadn’t had a chance to begin cleansing it.

She was so focused on the crystal that she didn’t notice the mist and the shadows thickening, and then there was an unearthly, inhuman scream and she finally looked up into--

Into the sunken, glowing eyes of Da'gugtabo.

The creature screamed and spread its filmy wings, then launched itself through the air at her, and she was slammed with a wave of nausea and weakness.

She fell to her knees, the furious energy that had sustained her until then utterly deserting her, and Da’gugtabo laughed and snapped its wings around her, burrowing into her psyche.

“ _Mistress!_ ” Jarvis roared, but the creature cast him aside.

 _Never could do anything right,_  Da’gugtabo whispered in her mind, and she felt inky blackness begin to consume her, seeping into every pore, making her gag and choke… she was falling into a void, consumed by years of self-doubt and sadness. _Never could be good enough. Never good enough, never never never never--_

It was like an anchor had been chained to her throat, and the crushing hopelessness filled her chest with a pain that she’d never experienced the likes of before… she so very wanted to die, make it end… she would trade wakefulness for the relief of the void, the unfeeling emptiness of the place between life and death, to free herself from this pain.

 _Never, never, never,_  Da’gugtabo gleefully chanted, dragging its spindly fingerlike appendages down her cheeks in mockery of tears.

Toni felt her eyes drift shut, her entire body going limp. This was it. She was going to fail. She thought of Steve, and the ache in her chest intensified.

 _Me cuore…_  her mother’s voice whispered, and there was a blinding flash of light.

Da’gugtabo howled and shrieked, and it was like listening to the screams of the damned, and Toni screamed and covered her ears as Da’gugtabo ripped itself away from her and flew away. She realized that her Lucia medal was glowing, pulsing like a heartbeat.

 _You are a Stark,_  Maria’s voice said. _And you are a Carbonell. You are strong, you are willful, and you are true. Rise up, my darling. Save the one you love._

Toni stumbled to her feet and gathered her strength. “Leave me alone,” she growled as twin pinpoints of red glared at her through the haze between the trees. “Leave me alone, you damned piece of shit--”

Da’gugtabo screamed at her again, and she barely had a moment to react as it launched itself at her once more, but then there was a flurry of feathers and claws.

Jarvis leapt past her and slammed into Da’gugtabo, slashing at it with his claws and teeth. He let out a fearsome roar, and it was like hearing a lion making its kill.

Da’gugtabo shrieked again, and over its cries Jarvis called out.

“Go, Mistress! I’ll take care of this one!”

Toni sent out a prayer for Jarvis and pushed on, the scrying gem a steady pulse at her side, the medallion a beacon at her breast. She ran, barrelling through brush and dodging between trees, until she finally passed into Osborn’s disgusting uncleansed Workplace.

The crystal dropped, and she shoved it back into her pouch and gathered her Power into her hands, where it sparked like stars. “Where are you,” she growled, tensing up and slowly making her way forward.

The fog had become thicker, and she found herself peering through it for any signs of movement, any other beastly daemons and rotten things that Greg or Osborne could have set loose.

There were noises ahead, the sounds of labored breathing and ominous chanting cutting through the heavy, oppressive silence of the woods.

Toni didn’t even think, she just threw the fistful of Power straight at the source of the chanting. There was an “oof!” and the sound of a body hitting the ground, and she broke into a run.

She stumbled over the edges of a crude Circle, unlike any she’d ever seen before, and the very sight of it filled her with yet more nausea and dread. This one was almost hastily drawn, but it matched what she remembered from the other victims. She began to search through the thick fog, desperation beginning to claw at her.

She nearly tripped over a prone form, laying spread-eagled on the ground. “Oh, ye gods,” she gasped, doubling back. “Steve--”

Steve’s eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow, but he was alive. Greg had stripped him naked, baring the scars of his breast removal surgery from a decade ago, his slender waist, his muscular arms and legs and chest, and a thick curl of blond pubic hair where his legs joined his torso. There were lazily bleeding cuts and scratches all over his body, and Greg had also driven the spikes through the palms of Steve’s hands. Toni’s heart leapt into her throat and she wanted to weep for him, for the pain he must have been feeling.

Steve stirred and cracked his eyes, peering up at her hazily. “T...Ton…”

“I’m here,” she whispered, her voice cracking. “I’m… you’re going to be all right--”

“I’m afraid that won’t be so.”

Toni whirled around, hands up, energy still pooled in her fists.

Greg stumbled out of the fog, glaring at her in such a way that Toni had never seen before on any person’s face. It was almost like… she fought the urge to shudder.

“Annie over here is going to be the last sacrifice,” Greg said cooly, almost conversationally. He had stripped his suit jacket and shirt off, and moved with an uncanny grace that made Toni sick. “I know you have feelings for this… whatever this wretched creature is, but things really must be this way, Antoinette. It’s for the best.”

“I don’t think so,” Toni hissed. “Greg, don’t make me kill you. You know I can.”

Greg threw his head back and laughed, and every inch of flesh on Toni’s body crawled at it.

“Ton...i…” Steve whispered hoarsely. “‘s not… human--”

Greg was grinning at her, and Toni wanted to vomit. His eyes glittered, the pupils expanding until both eyes were entirely inky black. “I am not Greg,” he said, his voice like fingernails on a chalkboard, like metal grinding on metal, like glass breaking. “I have not been Greg for some time.”

Toni felt her breath leave her like she’d been punched in the stomach. “What--”

“I am H’usolisc,” the monster wearing her brother’s face jeered at her, making the trees shake and thrash around them like a hurricane. The name was like the screaming of a saw on stone. “I am the magick-eater, the bringer of emptiness. I come to consume all.”

Toni breathed a faint, shaky breath, her hands beginning to quake. “Greg--”

“Has been dead for months,” the monster hissed. “He helped to Summon me, to consume all Witches from this world, cleanse the Earth of magick users. I came. He offered his body. I took it. He was the first sacrifice, and with this one I shall come fully into this world.”

“Oh my God,” Steve said faintly from the ground, and the creature laughed again.

“ _Your god has nothing to do with it._ ”

Every screaming voice in Toni’s head went silent, and she felt her entire body go numb. She couldn’t find words, couldn’t find much of anything, just a hollow sense of horror. _I’m not strong enough,_  she realized.

 _But you are not alone,_  her mother’s voice whispered in her ear.

She drew in her remaining wits and threw as much Power as possible into the sky, a Call to her coven, and it exploded over the treetops like scarlet fireworks. _Help me!_  she screamed into the ether. _I need you all!_

The response was immediate.

Her coven answered with the force of a tsunami; Thor and Jane’s thunderous fury, Carol and Jess and Wanda’s bright crackling force, Rhodey’s fire and Pietro’s swiftness, Jan’s sparks and Hank’s rolling wave, Pepper’s steady pulse, Reed and Sue’s utter cosmic storm.

Toni let the Power flow through her and put everything into another volley of blasts, and the combined power of thirteen Witches was enough to create a percussive force that once more threw the creature wearing Greg’s body back.

Toni knew it wouldn’t be enough. She seized her chance to pull Steve upright, and he was groaning. The drugs that were used must have been wearing off. She didn’t even have time to marvel at how soon it was for that.

“Naughty, naughty, naughty,” the monster chanted in a sing-song voice behind her. “That can’t hurt me, you stupid Witch.”

Toni still pulled all of the borrowed Power into her for another attack. This time, the monster laughed as he batted the blasts aside, like it was no more dangerous than water from a hose.

Toni raised her hands and put everything she had left into some kind of shield, some kind of protection, and the monster kept laughing as it shoved aside her sigils and began to reach through the shield, stretching it like a plastic-like membrane, until it punctured through and shattered it.

Toni gripped Steve tighter in her arms, shaking. _I’m still not strong enough…_

She looked down at Steve’s pale face, and he met her eyes.

“Please don’t hate me,” she whispered to him, and flung her Crown chakra wide open.

It was like being connected to every mind in the world, and Toni felt the pulsing of every spirit, every person alive in that one moment. Every life she’d touched, those that she’d never known existed, all throbbed like one single, giant heartbeat, and her mind swam in the sensation.

The townspeople, huddled frightened in their homes; the ambient daemons and Spirits and Fae, watching the woods with all of their anticipation and horror… the High Spirits, who had drawn away from the unclean place, waiting for her to clear it for them.

 ** _I accept the Call to Councilship,_**  she Called out, feeling it echo against Reed and Sue. **_I accept the Duties and Responsibilities of the Shadow Council of Witches, in return I beg for your aid! Help me banish this evil!_**

The Binding was instantaneous, and she was almost overwhelmed with the influx of Power that surged through her body.

 _Our aid is yours, Lady Strega,_  the Shadow Council responded in unison. Men and women she barely knew, some she knew too well; some who regarded her with skepticism and wariness, others who had nothing but faith in her… it was almost too much.

They all Called the same thing, and her coven joined them, and the ether filled with the sounds of Witches crying out in defense of their world, pushing back against the emptiness. Toni took it all, received it all and embraced it and pulled it into herself.

She screamed to the high heavens and spun a Circle around her and Steve, ripping up the ground with beams of light. It expanded, and knocked the monster back like a shockwave.

The creature wearing Greg’s skin fell to the ground, unmoving, and the light faded as the fog receded. Toni faintly heard her name being called in the distance.

Peggy, she realized. Peggy had brought the cavalry.

“Over here!” she screamed. “Steve’s hurt! Help!” She made to get up, but Steve let out a pained moan and clutched at her as best as he could without use of his hands.

“Oh, gods, my poor love,” she whispered, her heart aching for him. “I’m so sorry I let this happen to you… I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you.”

Steve shook his head. His brow was furrowed in pain. “I… I’m sorry…”

“No, shhh, don’t,” Toni stroked his forehead. “Save your strength.”

“Toni!” Rhodey’s voice echoed through the trees, and then the coven all ran into view, forming a circle around them. “Toni, try to get clear. We’re going to contain it.”

“I know its Name!” Toni called out.

“Toni, this isn’t like anything we’ve ever dealt with before,” Reed shouted urgently. “Get away from it.”

“Okay,” Toni said, gathering Steve into her arms again. “Okay, you’re going to be fine. We’re going to be okay.”

Pepper’s shriek cut through the air like a knife, and Toni barely had the chance to react when a hand closed around her still-glowing Lucia medal and yanked.

“ _Stupid bitch!_ ” H’usolisc howled at her, and the chain holding the medallion snapped.

Her mother’s voice let out a scream that quickly faded as H’usolisc cast the medal away before grabbing Toni’s throat and throwing her away from Steve. The fog rushed back in, obscuring her friends from her sight.

Toni yelped as she came in contact with the hard ground, rolling and trying to get back upright, but then H’usolisc was over her again, mouth gaping, stretched open unnaturally wide, and a long black tongue lolling out--

Toni screamed as H’usolisc got ahold of her again, slashing at her with the sinewy appendege and cutting as deeply as any knife. Blood welled on her skin.

She cried out once more and was cut off as its tongue forced its way down her throat. She thrashed in its hold as it clawed at her insides, as it shattered her carefully constructed mental barriers, and it dragged inky emptiness back into her mind and she felt herself being swallowed by the void--

 _Resist all you want, Antoinette!_  the void-bringer screamed at her. _You are weak, you are nothing!_

Toni clawed at her face, at the tongue, but she was growing faint, light-headed, and so… so very tired...

There was a roar, and then someone slammed into H’usolisc and threw it to the side, taking hold of the tongue and yanking it out of her. Toni gasped and rolled onto her side, coughing and retching. She couldn’t stop herself from heaving and spitting up bitter bile, and then she heaved again when she saw the brown and black muck in the vomit. Another shout made her roll over, look up.

Steve stood shakily over H’usolisc, Toni’s discarded medallion dangling from his twitching hands. " _Go hlfreann leat a shlíomadóir loaf!!_ *" he shouted, brandishing the Lucia medal.

It exploded once more in white light, and H’usolisc shrieked, a sound like a star dying, like space and time being cleaved in two.

Toni fought to get to her feet, and she moved to clutch at Steve’s arm. “ _Ói’eme, chiunque mai… qualsiasi ma’iè là ahí fueri!_ ” she screamed into the roiling sky above. “ _Ayuda’iè!_ **”

Steve began to shout something in Latin, and Toni’s hand wrapped around his, the medal clutched between them. It pulsed again, and the fog was blown back once more.

The covan began to chant in the distance.

“ ** _I_ _banish you!_** ” Toni shouted over the roaring winds. “ _Ói’eme, H’usolisc, tuo Immondo asì, **damned bringer of emptiness! I banish you!**_ ”

The Circle flared to life around her, and she wrenched it from the air surrounding her with her mind and threw it.

H’usolisc pulled itself upright and swiveled to glare at her, and then its mouth opened even wider as something black and slimy and insect-like clawed out of its gaping maw, slithering like a horrid monster of the deep, pulsing out of its throat and clawing at the air.

 _I am the void-bringer!_  the horrid voice boomed in their minds. _You are nothing to me! **Nothing!!**_

 _Mistress!_  Jarvis’s voice echoed in her mind. _Mistress, it cannot survive without a human body as a host!_

“Steve!” she called out, and squeezed his wrist. He glanced at her, and at that moment their minds were connected, their thoughts in unison.

 

“ _Ie for’zo a tuo da quel’lo cuerpo!_ ***” Toni screamed. “ _Sono vita! Sono energia! Sono magia! Ie comandé a tuo, ie for’zo a tuo da lui!_ ****”

“ _Veni, Creator Spiritus, mentes tuorum visita, imple superna gratia quae tu creasti pectora--_ *****” Steve cried out at the same time.

The Lucia medal flashed once more, and H’usolisc screamed, this time in pain.

Something was growing between them, between Toni and Steve; it was like a reverb that only grew stronger with each echo, something that gathered energy and strength as it bounced between them, as it pulsed like a heartbeat.

 _I love him,_  Toni thought, and something responded with soul-swelling affection. _Oh Gods, I love him--_

_I love--_

**_Creo que..._ **

The energy reached a fever pitch and exploded with the force of a thousand suns, and H’usolisc screamed once more as the pitch-black ungodly _thing_  fell from the mouth of Greg’s corpse and began to disintegrate into a dirty black fog.

The Circle seethed up out of the dirt like magma and pulsed brightly, and tendrils of light snaked out and wrapped around the oily black mist that had been left behind. The void-bringer shrieked out one last time as the Circle began to spin, a vortex of Power and light and pure energy, and then H’usolisc vanished. Sucked back to from wherever it had come.

Greg’s corpse fell to the ground, already rotting.

Steve wavered next to her, then collapsed. Toni cried out and tried to catch him, but she was suddenly drained. The frenzied casting of the day had finally caught up to her. She tried to cushion his fall and cradled him as the woods echoed with shouts and the pounding of many feet towards them. Her head slammed into the ground, and her vision swam from pain and dizziness.

“Steve,” she whispered shrilly, shaking him. “Steve, oh gods, Steve, wake up, don’t be dead, oh gods--”

“Toni!” Peggy shouted, and then there she was, looking terrified and worried. She fell to her knees next to them and let out a horrible cry of shock and worry. “Sam, over here! Hurry!”

“Oh, Christ Almighty,” Sam swore when he reached them. “Fucking hell, fucking fuck--”

“His hands--” Peggy sobbed. “Oh, Lord--”

“Toni!” And there was Pepper, shrill and scared. Her hands were everywhere, on Toni’s forehead, wrists, neck. She heard murmured prayers in Veritan, charms and spells and words of Power and Life and Healing--

There were more cries and voices, and Rhodey and Carol and Thor and Reed were all screaming for her, and then Sam was shouting orders and calling for stretchers and yelling himself hoarse. At some point, Jarvis barreled in, roaring like a lion, and growling at anyone who tried to drive him away.

Toni came back to herself as Steve was lifted away from her, and she cried out and reached for his limp hand. Dimly, she realized that he had removed the stakes from his hands… they were dripping with bright red blood.

“No,” she sobbed. “No, no no no no no--”

“Shhhhh,” the EMT kneeling over her said as she maneuvered the canvas stretcher under Toni. “Shhh, Sofronnia, you did well. You did good.”

“Steve-- _Steve_ \--!!”

“Rest, Sofronnia,” the white-haired EMT whispered as Toni was lifted up. “All is well. You did well, and now you can rest.”

_Steve…_

But weariness washed over her like the tide, and she couldn’t keep her eyes open… the last things Toni saw before unconsciousness overtook her once more were those bright, golden eyes…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Violence and diabolical possessions. Some torture, blood, invasive use of a demonic tongue (seriously) and a bit of vomit.
> 
> * "To hell with you, rotten bastard!" (Gaelic)
> 
> ** "Hear me, whoever... whatever is out there! ...Help me!"
> 
> *** "I drive you from that form!"
> 
> **** "I am life! I am energy! I am magic! I command you, I drive you from him!"
> 
> ***** "Come, Holy Ghost, Creator, come from thy bright heav'nly throne; come, take possession of our souls, and make them all thine own." (Traditional hymn)


	18. Chapter 18

Toni woke up.

“Mistress,” Jarvis said in a tone of overwhelming relief, and she opened her eyes to see him staring at her, perched on the bed next to her, in his smaller housecat form. “Oh, Mistress!”

“Jarvis,” she croaked, reaching for him. He crawled into her arms and she buried her face in his fur. “Wha-- what happened--”

“You were brought to the hospital,” Jarvis informed her faintly, rubbing his head against her cheek. “It has been eighteen hours. You went into shock at some point… massively dehydrated, some blood loss, some concussive trauma… a whole host of other maladies that Jane and Thor have been trying to banish. We were all so worried.”

Toni closed her eyes and breathed out a long sigh. Then her eyes snapped open. “Steve? What about Steve?”

Jarvis was silent, but then a door opened and a woman’s voice said, “Ah, you’re awake!”

Toni let out a pathetic mewl as she tried to lever herself upright, but then Claire Temple’s face swam into view. Claire pushed her gently back down to the hospital bed and shook her head. “No,” the nurse said sternly. “You’re still recovering. Sit still and be quiet.”

“Steve--” Toni protested.

“He’s here too. He’s still alive.” Claire patted her shoulder. “It was a bit touch-and-go, okay? Really bad blood loss, horrible shock, but he’s pulling through. You know he’s a fighter.”

Toni let out a sob and buried her face in Jarvis’s fur again. “Thank goodness.”

Claire hummed in agreement. “Listen, you have an IV in your arm. Don’t yank it out yet.”

Toni made a noise that Claire must have taken for assent.

“And you’ve got visitors. I’m only letting two people in at a time, and you are _not_  to be agitated, all right?”

Toni nodded slowly.

Claire smiled tightly at her and then motioned towards the door.

Pepper and Rhodey immediately appeared next to her. Pepper’s lovely face was paler than Toni had ever seen it, and Rhodey looked like a man twice his age.

“Seven fucking Hells, Toni,” Rhodey ground out, his lips upturned in a relieved smile. He took hold of her hand and squeezed it. “Trouble just seems to find you.”

Pepper just babbled incoherently, but she took Toni’s other hand. Hers was shaking something awful.

“Steve--” Toni persisted, the sight of his bloodied hands flashing in her mind’s eye again.

“Thor and Jane have been working on him,” Rhodey told her. “And Yinsen flew in to take over for them when they needed to rest.”

Yinsen? Toni was surprised, but not really. She blinked at her dearest friends. “Greg?”

Pepper bit her lip. “He’s been confirmed dead. Bruce estimates that he’s been dead for almost three months.”

That made sense. Toni felt something cold and hollow open up inside of her chest, a yawning pit. “My whole family,” she mumbled. “All but me.”

“Wanda and Pietro are still here,” Rhodey reminded her. “As are the boys. And you will always have us. You’re not alone.”

“No…” Toni closed her eyes. “No. You’re right... My medal. My mother’s medal, where is it?”

Pepper made a noise of recognition and dug in her skirt pocket. “Here,” she said, drawing the medallion out and wrapping it around Toni’s hand. “We found it in the woods.”

Toni raised her hand so she could look at it. It glinted in the fading sunlight. _Thanks, Mama,_  she thought, smiling wearily.

"We'll have to repair that chain," Rhodey said. "But I think it's worth it."

"Mm. Yes." The golden disk slowly turned, catching the sunlight.

Toni belatedly realizes that there was actual sunlight streaming through the window. "The weather--!"

"Yeah," Pepper laughed, still a bit shakily. "After you and Steve... did... whatever you two did, the clouds cleared right up."

Toni stared at the window, overflowing with warm, golden sunlight. "Wow."

"Yeah," Rhodey agreed. “Amazing what a little sun can do.”

Professor Yinsen was the next person to visit. He was smiling, almost proudly, as he took his seat in the stiff plastic chair next to her bed. “Antoinette,” he greeted her. Yasmin nodded to her from Yinsen’s shoulder.

“Professor,” Toni answered, quirking her lips in a half-smile. “Thank you for helping with the healing of my dear friend.”

“Ah, yes,” Yinsen laughed. “The man who holds your heart, am I correct?”

Toni blinked, and her expression must have been hilarious because Yinsen only laughed harder.

“Antoinette, I may be old, but I can still recognize your signature spellcasting. All these years, he’s built up quite a magickal immune system. Obviously, he is well-loved.”

“Well, um--” Toni sputtered, and Yinsen patted her hand.

“I must say, I did not expect to find Streghe Erskine’s influence as well.”

Toni blinked. “Erskine?”

“Yes, you’ll probably encounter him.” Yinsen’s eyes twinkled behind his round lenses. “He’s based in Chicago, I believe he supplies your Steven with his hormones.”

Toni gaped at her old mentor. “Y-you’re serious?”

Yinsen nodded, and Toni just stared.

“Huh,” she finally said, after thinking about it. “That would explain why his transition went so well.”

“Indeed,” Yinsen agreed, amused. “I must say, it feels like Fate conspired to bring you two together. I daresay Erskine would be quite pleased to find that one of his… favorite patients has taken up with a High Witch.”

“Is that what I am now?” Toni asked wryly, running her fingers through Jarvis’s fur and ignoring the prod at her feelings for Steve. “I don’t feel all that high and mighty.”

“Well, you did battle with an ancient evil. You deserve to recover. From what I understand, this month has not been very kind to you.” Yinsen peered at her. “And yet you weathered it with all of your usual strength and courage.”

Toni looked away and swallowed. “No, I wouldn’t have survived if it weren’t for my coven… my _familly_.” She met the old Witch’s eyes again. “I wouldn’t have won if I hadn’t asked for help.”

“Speaking of which,” Yinsen said. “I wanted to say that I am so very proud of you. I have faith that you’ll help steer this new, younger Council into the twenty-first century.” He grinned at her, and the corners of his eyes crinkled.

Toni couldn’t make herself smile at that. “I hope so,” she said sadly. “At least if I have that, I’ll have something…”

“I take it you think you’ll no longer be welcome here?” Yinsen leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees, and placing his chin in a hand.

“I… I don’t know how the town will go from here,” Toni admitted. “I mean, I don’t know how much of these past weeks’ events were influenced by those… _things_. I don’t know how much came from underlying resentment. I’m not sure I want to find out.”

“I think you have enough reason to stay. I do believe the hostility and the distrust was caused by the one we shall not name,” Yinsen reassured her. “What's more, you've made this place your home, and you’ve made it a better place for it.”

“Have I really?” Toni asked, in all sincerity. “I can’t possibly be doing enough--”

“And that is the proof that you are, in fact, more than enough,” Yinsen interrupted, patting her hand again. “You’ll learn, with time.”

Toni groaned and flopped back onto her pillows. “I hope that’s true.”

“You’re a Witch,” Yinsen reminded her lightly, a teasing smile back on his face. “You don’t have to content yourself with just _hope_.”

Yinsen remained in town with Reed and Sue as Toni recovered in the hospital. Between the three of them and the coven, they canvassed the woods and chased Da’gugtabo back into Osborn’s Workplace. They weren’t willing to wait another few weeks until the full moon Sabbat, but Pepper later reported that Wanda was almost savagely eager to hunt the nightmare-bringer down for frightening her sons. No one complained, and Wanda certainly brought her fullest, most dangerous energy to the task, so within a day the diabolical Spirit was banished back to whence it came.

The task of cleansing the Workplace was taken up by Hank, Jan, and Jess, and while it was a lengthy process, they were dedicated. The psychic grime and magickal unwellness, once its source was gone, began to break up and clear away on its own anyway, but having dedicated caregivers certainly helped return the woods to normal again.

Peggy stopped by to secure Toni’s permission to cremate Greg’s body. It was making Bruce nervous, and apparently there were a lot of corpse flies hanging around the morgue. Toni hesitated, but ultimately signed off on the cremation.

On his check-in on her recovery, Thor gave her the welcome news that all the people stricken with the diabolical Plague were making full recoveries. More news trickled in, about Clint’s farm making a turnaround for the better, and Kate sent her an arrowhead in thanks.

May Parker surprised her by showing up with a basket full of apples from the tree in her backyard and a tearful apology for her treatment of Toni, which Toni immediately forgave her for. Peter had hugged her and thanked her for getting justice for his uncle.

Norman Osborn and Karl Kimmel recovered from Da’gugtabo’s influence just in time to be charged formally by the Shadow Council with gross misconduct and abuse of ritual Summons. Since neither had committed a Cowan crime in the town limits, CPD released them to the Council to stand trial for their deeds. Harry stayed behind with Peter and May instead of going with his father to Chicago or moving back into the family house.

Dooley gave Toni an informal debrief and gruffly apologized on behalf of the CPD  for suspecting her, which she also waved away. “We were both doing our duties, Chief,” she told him.

He’d smiled and nodded. “That we were, Strega.” Before his manliness could be called into question with any more sappiness, he took his opening for an exit.

Sarah was a frequent visitor, alternately updating her on Steve’s condition and local gossip  and crying, thanking Toni for saving her son.

Peter Quill appeared in her hospital suite, flanked by Rocky the talking raccoon sprite, and gleefully informed her that the Bad Place was going away, and the ambient Spirits and Fae were returning to Craven’s Woods.

Once the coven confirmed they were able to continue from then on, the Richardses and Yinsen took their leave.

Shortly thereafter, Jane popped in and cleared Toni to check out of the hospital. H’usolisc’s influence had been purged from Toni’s body - at least, to the Blakes’ satisfaction - and Toni was already getting her energy and strength back.

“What… how’s Steve?” Toni asked timidly as she pulled on the sweats Jane had brought from the Manor. Never mind that Sarah hadn’t spared any details on how he was doing from day-to-day.

Jane raised an eyebrow at her as Toni tossed the hospital gown on the bed with no little distaste. “Don’t tell me you didn’t try to go see him?” And _damn_  her, but she knew.

“I was on _bedrest_ ,” Toni groused at her. “On _your_  orders.”

“And look! You’re walking around and talking at me and everything!”

Frija guffawed at her, and Toni rolled her eyes.

“Oh, thank God,” Claire said from the door, stomping in. “She’s been driving me nuts, trying to talk me into bringing her things that can cause _fires_ \--”

“Fire?” Jane turned to Toni, eyebrows both raised high enough to take residence under her hairline.

“Work,” Toni grumbled. “I was bored.”

Jane snorted and shook her head. “Go home and set things on fire, Oh Grand High One.” She flounced out of the hospital room, Frija bouncing on her shoulder and still laughing.

“Don’t you forget, I’m still in charge around here!” Toni shouted after her.

Claire blinked and put her hands on her hips. “Grand High One?”

Toni sighed and shrugged. “I joined the Shadow Council of Witches.”

“Ah. I see.” Claire nodded slowly, then began to gather up the linens Toni had used during her stay. “Well, good for you. Congrats.”

“Thanks.” Toni was about to depart as well, then a flicker of memory, from That Fateful Day, sparked in her mind. “Hey, you know all the EMT’s pretty well, don’t you?”

Claire looked up. “Yyyyyyeah?”

“Do you know this one girl, mid-twenties, pale, really bright gold eyes, and her hair is bleach-dyed white?” Toni scrubbed a hand through her bangs as she recalled the white-haired EMT who had called her by her Name.

Claire scrunched up her nose. “No, we don’t have anyone like that.”

“Are you sure? She was one of the EMT’s that loaded me onto a stretcher--”

“Oh, no, no no no, I would know if some idiot white girl bleached her goddamn hair in this hospital,” Claire said, wagging a finger at her. “You know what that does to your scalp?”

“Are you sure?” Toni asked again, feeling the fluttering of nerves.

Claire nodded. “I know all the EMT’s in this town. There is _no one_  matching that description working in the area.”

Toni looked at Jarvis, and back at Claire. “O-okay. Thanks.” She quickly shuffled from the room as Claire went back to her work.

“Jarvis, you saw her, right?” Toni asked immediately, once she was out of earshot. “I’m not crazy, am I?”

“I admit, I cannot recall the details of that moment very well. I was quite concerned for your welfare,” Jarvis answered, mirroring her worry. “I doubt your sanity is compromised, however.”

“But who was she, then?” Toni hissed. “She called me by Name, Jarvis!”

Jarvis opened his mouth to answer, and they jumped at the sound of laughter.

Toni looked up at the white-haired woman in scrubs, standing in the middle of the hallway and laughing merrily at them.

“Oh, you lot! Always so suspicious of me!” the woman - EMT? Fae? **_Something???_**  - said, wiping a tear from her cheek. “Especially you,” she said, pointing at Toni. “You’re always wary, always fight and not flight, and darling, that is not good for the heart.”

Toni’s hand, unbidden, moved to cover the tattoo on her breastbone.

“Don’t _worry_!” the woman said, gliding forward and circling around them. Her eyes flickered to Jarvis and then back up to Toni, and she waggled her eyebrows. “If I wanted to harm you, you’d be harmed. I actually just wanted to put your worries to bed, really.”

Toni narrowed her eyes at the woman. “Who are you?”

“Ah, yeah, I didn’t get around to telling you, huh?” The woman tilted her head. “I’m Alice.”

“Alice,” Toni repeated flatly.

“Yep. That’s what my Creator named me.” Alice shrugged.

“Your… creator?”

“Yep. Actually, I tend to call her my Mistress, too. Maybe I should call her Missy…” Alice tapped her chin with one long finger. “Anyway, my Creator, the aforementioned Missy, is totally on your side, by the by, so you don’t have to worry about anything. Your Name is still yours, Toni.”

Toni let out her tense breath. “How can I know for sure?”

“Listen to your intuition?” Alice suggested, shoving her hands into her scrub pockets. “I mean, I know you don’t often trust it, but really, what is it saying?”

Toni eyed the woman, but unclenched her hand at her chest and relaxed. “What are you?”

“Hm.” Alice made a very Fae-like face, pursing her lips. “Well, if you asked Steve what he’d think of me - and you should totally ask him, just talk to him -  he’d probably call me an angel?”

Toni blinked and stared at the strange being, brows drawn together. “Jarvis?”

Jarvis coughed. “I… she does remind me very much of the High Spirits.”

Alice raised her eyebrows and nodded. “That's close enough. Thank you, J.”

“Do not call me that.”

“Sorry.” Alice flashed them a grin and skipped around them, towards the exit. “Hey, seriously, go talk to Steve, won’t you?”

“I was going to!” Toni said, only fibbing a little.

Alice rolled her eyes at her and jerked a thumb in the direction of what was probably Steve’s room. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, go see him. He wants to see _you_.”

Toni blinked, and then jumped as Claire stepped out of the hospital room and shut the door behind her.

“Toni?” Claire peered at her, arms loaded with landry. “What are you still doing here?”

“I-- uh--” Toni glanced back towards Alice, but the… the _“angel”_... had vanished. Toni shook her head and composed herself. “Could you… tell me where Steve’s room is?”

Claire raised her eyebrows. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Wow, I thought I was going to have to watch you dance around each other for longer.” Claire dumped her armload of linens into the waiting hamper and wiped her hands on her scrub pants. “He’s in the C-wing, that way.” She pointed in the direction Alice had been heading. “C211.”

“Okay. Thanks.” Toni flashed her a smile. “I’ll find it on my own, don’t worry.”

Claire nodded and went back to work as Toni took a deep breath and set off for the C-wing, Jarvis at her side.

Steve was watching TV with an expression of utter boredom when Toni eased the door open.

He glanced over and then did a double take, straightening up in bed. “Toni!”

“Hey,” she said, smiling nervously. “Can I come in?”

Steve shrugged, and seemed to have trouble figuring out what do with his heavily-bandaged hands.

Toni cast around for a chair and then dragged the one nearest to her over to his bedside. “So.” She took a seat, her spine uncomfortably straight, but fought to maintain composure. “What did Thor and Jane and Yinsen do?”

“Well, I really don’t remember,” Steve admitted. He glanced at the TV and then nudged the remote on the bed next to him. “You mind? For me?”

Toni poked the power button and switched the TV off, and Steve smiled at her. “Thanks, I don’t know if I can take much more of this daytime talk show drivel.”

Toni laughed, and they both relaxed a bit, shoulders rounding out and limbs loosening.

“But yeah.” Steve shrugged again. “Thor said they pulled out all the stops for me.” He grinned wryly at her. “‘cuz I’m a friend, and all.”

“Good,” Toni said, relieved. “What’s the prognosis?”

“Well, I’ll need a lot of physical therapy and a few months to heal, since those guys are Witches and not miracle workers, but I should regain full use of both hands by next spring.” Steve flashed his teeth in a pleased smile. “No triathlons for a while, but I’ll get back there eventually.”

Toni, if it was possible, felt even more relieved. “Oh, thank goodness.”

“Yeah.” Steve looked shyly at her. “Thanks for saving me. I wouldn’t have made it if you hadn’t come when you did.”

“Steve,” Toni said, her voice wavering with emotion that she couldn’t quite tamp down. “Steve, I will always come for you.”

Jarvis coughed, and Toni yelped when she realized what she’d said. “Ah-- _fuck_ , Hell’s bells, I--”

Steve burst out into laughter, and Toni quickly joined in, half-hysterical. “Don’t make fun of me!” Toni squeaked, burying her face in Steve’s bedsheets. “I’ve had a really stressful month!”

Steve just kept laughing, and it was a moment before they both could catch their breath.

“Well,” Steve coughed, looking away. “I had a hell of a month, too. Got taken off a major case and watched one of my best friends nearly get nailed for murder; nearly got sacrificed to some kind of demon… got misgendered by one of Lovecraft’s rejects…”

Toni sobered almost immediately. “Yeah.”

Steve poked her with his bandaged hand. “Hey, we survived. Everything’s going to return to normal, mark my words. Hell, it already is.” His expression took on a bittersweet tinge. “We got justice, for everyone that lost their lives to that thing. We won.”

“Yeah.” Toni fixed her gaze on the wall across from her. “Normal. Right. Hm.”

Steve was silent, and Toni finally looked up at him. “What is it?” he finally asked.

Toni bit her lip. “I… I accepted the offer. To membership in the Shadow Council. It was… I was desperate, Steve, and…” Her shoulder slumped. “I’d… I’d do it again, Steve. And you can hate me for it if you want, but I--”

“Toni!” Steve leaned towards her, his eyebrows drawn together in a worried frown. “Toni, I don’t hate you, why would you think that?”

“You have never, _ever_  liked the Shadow Council,” Toni pointed out. “And I’m pretty sure that doesn’t change even if I’m on it.”

Steve was silent for a moment, then nudged at her shoulder. “You know, Yinsen and I got to talk quite a bit, while he was checking up on me before he left.”

Toni blinked and drew back, apprehension creeping into her chest and dissolving into anxiety that quickly filled her, making her fingertips tingle. “About…?”

“About why he nominated you to succeed him.”

Toni breathed in a ragged breath and nodded, unable to string together a sentence.

Thankfully, Steve took the cue and went on. “He told me about your time at the Academy, and about everything you wanted to work for when you graduated.” He broke off and shook his head, his expression almost awed. “God, Toni, you were… you _are_  amazing. I’ve always known that. But… you were so _young_ \--”

Toni felt her face twist against her will and she buried her face in the blanket again. “He told you about all of that,” she mumbled, feeling as drained as she had after fighting two Eldritch Abominations in one afternoon.

“Toni, for the love of--” Steve made a frustrated noise. “Look at me.”

Toni fought the urge to groan, but she raised her head and sat up.

Steve was staring intently at her, and his eyes were _so blue_  that they took Toni’s breath away. “Yinsen basically sat in that very chair and explained to me, very insistently, that I needed to consider things from your point of view. For almost an hour.”

Toni made a confused face and shook her head, because she couldn’t make herself say _and so?_

“And then there was a parade of people who alternately fussed over me and then berated me for not treating you well, because…” he trailed off, and finally broke eye contact. “Well. My mother put in her two cents, and then she told me that you were the best thing to ever happen to me.”

Toni snorted derisively.

“I guess I kind of… pushed you aside, once you stopped telling me stuff I wanted to hear,” Steve admitted. “And I shouldn’t have done what I did, with my suspicions about Greg--”

“Which were totally right,” Toni pointed out. “You did what was right, Steve. You did what needed to be done.”

“But I hurt you.”

Their eyes met again, and Steve looked repentant.

“For a moment, there,” Steve said softly, “we were… connected.”

Toni winced. Yeah, that had happened.

“I… I _saw_  you as you always are…. You let people you love hurt you, and if you pull away from them, you still let them back in again, no matter what they’ve done to you.” Steve’s expression turned earnest. “I’ve never seen anyone capable of such forgiveness.”

“That’s patently untrue,” Toni muttered, looking away, but Steve caught her chin and turned her face back to him.

“You’re kind of biased,” he said, and he had a point.

Toni felt the now-familiar burning at the back of her eyes of impossible tears, and her breathing became shallow.

“You went through hell this past month. I mean, we both did, but you had to suffer through all that and it was so hard to watch.”

“I had support,” Toni murmured, dropping her eyelids and hiding under the lashes.

“But I know I made it harder on you,” Steve said, and gosh, their faces were so close, his breath was ghosting over her cheek.

His hands were on her cheeks now, and her breath was stuttering in her chest.

“Out there,” he whispered, barely loud enough to be heard in the dead silence of the room. “In the woods. You called me your love.”

Toni squeezed her eyes shut. “I did.”

“Look at me, please.”

She opened her eyes, and he was smiling, such a fragile smile.

“God, Toni,” he breathed, looking ready to cry. “I’ve loved you since I first met you.”

Toni gasped, a gasp that turned into a dazed laugh, and she couldn’t stop smiling. “Really?” she asked, barely more than a breath.

“Really,” Steve said, laughing softly. “Really, really, really.”

“Oh, gods, Steve--” her hands came up to cover his, squeezing them gently through the bandages. “I… me too, _always_ , but I never thought you could see me like this…”

“Well, you thought wrong, Strega,” he answered dryly, and she laughed again.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” she asked, her forehead bumping against his, their noses touching.

“I never thought you’d feel the same,” Steve admitted. “You’re so brilliant and worldly and… _you_ , and I’m just a small-town girl-turned-guy… I was so scared I wasn’t man enough--”

“Don’t you ever think that about yourself ever again,” Toni said fiercely, her voice wobbling with emotion. “Don’t you… don’t you _dare_ \--” She swallowed, tried to find her words again. “You’re perfect,” she said, leaving no room for argument. “You’re more man than so many guys I’ve known, you’re _wonderful_  and kind and courageous, and I’ve loved you since I first laid eyes on you ten years ago, Steven Rogers.”

“Really?” he huffed out a soft laugh. “That skinny beanpole, not even half a year on hormones?”

“I would love you no matter what you were like,” Toni promised. “ _Tuo ie amoré, tuo ie adoré._  Your soul is so beautiful, Steve.”

“So’s yours, Toni.” Tears were definitely running down his cheeks, and she wanted to kiss them away... so she did.

Their lips met, and it was like fireworks in her head; like the birth of a spinning star in the heavens, filling everything with light and heat and _life_... her hands found their way to Steve’s cheeks, fingers working through his hair, and his hands slipped around the back of her neck and drew her closer, and they didn’t part except to gasp for air before diving back into each other again, and one kiss turned into two turned into five turned into millions of little kisses.

Jarvis meowed pointedly, and they drew apart to look at him, then up at the assembly of their friends in the doorway.

“Uh,” Happy said. “We were going to… pick you up to go home…?” He was smiling despite what looked to be his best efforts. Behind him, Peggy and Sam and Arnie were doing some kind of stomping victory dance in the hallway, barely containing whoops and hollers. Pepper had her hand pressed to her mouth, and Rhodey was grinning so widely that Toni worried his face would split.

Toni knew she had a dopey smile on her face, and out of the corner of her eye she could tell Steve did too. “Well,” she said, her voice only a little hoarse. “I was obvious, wasn’t I?”

Pepper burst out in semi-hysterical laughter, and Jarvis rubbed against Toni's arm, purring, as Steve nosed against her hair to press a kiss to her ear.

Yeah, the past month had been hellish… but this, this was worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, hello there, Alice. Long time no see. (Anyone want sketches of Alice? They're a-comin'!)
> 
> Shout out to all of my lovely betas, who all basically screamed "ABOUT GODDAMN TIME" at me when they read this chapter.
> 
> “ _Tuo ie amoré, tuo ie adoré._ " = "I love you, I adore you."


	19. Epilogue

_three months later_

Toni drifted in the soft, hazy place between wakefulness and dream before finally stumbling into consciousness, wonderfully warm and comfortable and well-rested. She raised her head from the pillow and smiled when her hands found Steve’s arms, wrapped around her waist from behind.

“Good morning, beloved,” she murmured, and he gave a sleepy laugh and kissed the back of her neck.

“Good morning, beautiful,” he said roughly in her ear, making her shiver in the most delicious way.

She wiggled, and he loosened his embrace so she could turn over and face him. He sighed in contentment and drew her closer.

“Mm,” Toni said, and kissed his nose. “So should I get up and make us breakfast, or…?”

Steve moaned in mostly over-exaggerated desire. “Such temptation. Food, yes, food.”

“You only love me for my cooking,” Toni chided him, sliding out from under the covers and half-running for the high-backed chair near the door, which held her robe on it. She slipped it on over her nakedness and found her slippers, sighing in relief when the chill of the room was sufficiently blocked out.

Steve had propped himself up on one elbow, watching her with hooded eyes. “God,” he said.

Toni pouted at him. “What? Are you finally noticing how fat I’m getting? I’m telling you, my metabolism is gone forever.”

Steve snorted and sat up in bed, blankets pooling at his waist. The heavier bandages on his hands had come off around Thanksgiving, and he was getting the hang of gripping and holding things again, even if it frustrated him to no end that he could barely feed himself. (Billy had cheerfully pointed out that this meant Aunt Toni had to feed him instead, and he’d laughed at that. At least his sense of humor was fully recovered.)

Even so, over the past three months, he had rarely spent a night in his own apartment, slowly migrating all of his personal belongings and worldly possessions to the Manor and filling the empty spaces in the closet, the dresser and the bathroom cabinets, his hormone treatments in their own special spots in the fridge… at this point, no one bothered to comment on the fact that he’d more or less moved in only three months into the relationship. “Whatever,” Toni had said, one day. “We spent ten years getting to know each other and dancing around this. We’re as good as married by now.” He’d laughed in agreement… over the past three months, he’d laughed a lot more than Toni had ever seen before.

Back in October, upon the settling of affairs in New York - which Toni had handled through Jen as a proxy - Toni had retired to the Manor to spend the month-and-a-day of mourning in remembrance of the brother she’d loved despite all that had come between them in the end. This time, she didn’t perform the ceremony alone; her coven had joined her, and surprisingly, so had Matt and Karen and Steve. Toni recalled her childhood memories and wrapped them around her aching heart, soothing the raw wounds of the past month’s happenings with the images of playing together with Greg and Ana in their nursery, of chasing her brother through the Manhattan home’s gardens, of those golden afternoons hidden away in the attic with a trunkful of old men’s magazines.

She wanted nothing to do with Stark Industries, which had flagged as a successful producer of anything, and quietly sold it to Mr. Fujikawa, who assured her that he would take care of all of the employees. Ru had come to Cravenswood shortly after that, and spent a week just being around Toni, bathing her in Ru’s very own special brand of healing. She had very heartily approved of Steve after he bore up to her thorough scrutiny, to everyone’s amusement.

Along with the removal of Steve’s bulkier bandages, Thanksgiving brought with it the surprising return of Bucky Barnes, who had shipped out to South America the year prior. Sadly, he was returning honorably discharged, as he had been caught in a sudden and deadly firefight and ended up losing his left arm. Steve had immediately stepped up to be his PT buddy, and Nat rarely left his side when she wasn’t on-duty. His dull and sometimes sour mood had cracked, then broken entirely when he found out that Steve was pretty much living with Toni and that they were most definitely committed. “About goddamn time!” he’d shouted, toasting them and laughing hard enough to knock over his chair.

Christmas/Yule had been a quiet affair, kept to visits with friends and spending the entire holiday amongst family. Sarah enlisted Arnie and Michael as mules and had shown up on Christmas Eve with armloads of presents and a homemade apple pie (Billy and Tommy had been most enthusiastic about that) and had ended up spending the night in one of the guest rooms. New Year’s had been similarly low-key, but they had opened the Manor to their closest friends and had celebrated all that had happened with as much fervor as could be contained in a single night.

Life in Cravenswood had mostly returned to normal, save for a few things. The Witch-owned shops and businesses were repaired and reinstated, and Stryker’s church found themselves once again unpopular and marginalized. Many of the members elected to leave Cravenswood and seek out places more suited to their needs, and no one bade them ill for doing so. Everyone was either weary of all of the madness of those tense few weeks in autumn, or ashamed of their fearful reactions and horrified at their quickness to accuse their own neighbors, Witch or no, and so they became determined to move past it. It certainly didn’t hurt that Jessica Jones, Officer Cage’s wife, wrote a truly impressive in-depth article on the entire event for the county newsletter; it was so impressive that it got picked up by the AP and prompted an investigative news team to come out and film an episode of 60 Minutes about it. Cravenswood was pulled into the nation’s spotlight, and its businesses boomed. Sure, there were still vitriolic protests and objections on the part of more conservative county board members, but the town of Cravenswood stubbornly refused to give up its coven, and so the coven stayed.

Wanda and Pietro received an apology from their former landlord, along with an invitation to move back into their old apartment. They had politely declined, as Pietro quite enjoyed having a bedroom of his own, and the boys were certainly enamored with their attic room. Toni had been unbelievably happy and relieved at the Maximoffs’ decision to stay. The Manor was filled with life and noise and happiness, and she didn’t want it any other way.

She and Steve had discussed kids of their own, possibly, one day. Steve’s expression grew soft whenever he talked about visiting orphanages and fostering children in need, and Toni’s heart skipped a beat when she surveyed the empty bedrooms, waiting to be filled. There were many things that they would never agree on, despite everything between them, but the thought of having children was not one of them.

Toni walked around to Steve’s side of the bed and captured his lips in a real kiss, wrinkling her nose at his morning breath and the slight beard burn. “Put some pants on and come down, I’ll make something warm and fluffy.”

“Yum,” Steve hummed, pulling her back in for another kiss. “Or you could stay here where there’s already lots of warm and fluffy--”

His stomach growled loudly, and Toni laughed.

“Okay, fine,” Steve grumbled good-naturedly, and pecked her one last kiss on the cheek before allowing her to draw away. “I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

“Great.” She opened the bedroom door, and Jarvis jumped down from his bed atop the dresser and followed her out.

“How does French toast sound, Jarvis?” she asked briskly as they made their way down the front staircase, brushing through the foyer.

“Absolutely delicious, Mistress,” Jarvis replied, easily keeping pace with her.

Pepper and Happy arrived for the day while she was cooking breakfast, and Rhodey shortly after them. Pepper stole a slice of toast and ducked into the conservatory while Rhodey and Happy snagged plates and loaded up on bacon and eggs, wolfing them down before Rhodey disappeared into the basement Workroom and Happy headed out into the garage to continue fixing up the Model-T. Wanda and Pietro were already at work in town, and the boys were in school, so once Happy cleared out of the kitchen it was left quiet.

Steve finally came downstairs, having washed his face as best as he could with limited use of his hands, and Toni passed him his coffee just the way he liked it, in a cup that was easier to grip. He’d grown quite a beard in the past few weeks, after he decided to spare Toni from having to shave him every other day (probably for the best, because she was too scared to nick him and he was too impatient to let her go slowly). Toni quite liked it, even if she had to sometimes pick out bits of food from it, to Steve’s amusement.

He settled down at the table. “I see the ravenous hordes have been through here,” he commented as Toni set his plate of French toast in front of him, already neatly cut up and doused in the proper amount of syrup, and handed him his wide-handled fork.

“You know how it is,” Toni said, settling down next to him with her own plate and mug of coffee. “No one can resist my cooking.”

“Hear hear,” Steve agreed, taking a careful bite of syrup-soaked eggy bread.

Toni was about to dig into her own breakfast when the kitchen phone rang shrilly.

“Who is it?” Steve asked as she got up.

Toni wrinkled her nose. “I think it’s Reed.” She quickly crossed the kitchen and picked up the phone before it could ring a second time. “Hello?”

“Toni, hello!” Reed said, his voice coming in over the receiver as clear as crystal. “I’m so glad you’re up, we’ve got a bit of an interesting development out here.”

Toni made a face. “Interesting how?”

“Well…” Reed hesitated, and Toni felt a trill of worry. “We just had a remarkable discovery come to light.”

“Reed, spit it out!” Sue’s voice sounded in the background. “Oh, here, let me--”

There was a shuffling as Sue took the phone from her husband and then spoke into it. “Toni?”

“Sue?”

“Toni, you will not believe this. We were called out to Brooklyn Metropolitan Hospital this morning because a pair of Witch twins were born yesterday - the mother was a Cowan, died in childbirth, and her family refuses to take the babies out of religious reasons or superstitions or some such thing--”

“Whoa, whoa, Sue, slow down,” Toni said, blinking in confusion. “What does this merit a call out to me for?”

“Toni, they’re _Greg’s_.”

Toni’s hand went numb and her mouth dropped open. “What?” she breathed.

“The mother, before she died, put Gregory Stark down as the father of the babies. They’re your niece and nephew.” Sue took a deep breath and cleared her throat. “They’re premature, and they’ll need to be incubated for a bit, but they’re both pretty healthy and… well…”

“Is someone…” Toni swallowed, trying to moisten her throat. “Is there someone taking them in?”

“Well, like I said, the mother… her family won’t take them, and they don’t… well, you know how the Council prefers to keep wards within family.”

Toni’s mind, previous filled with buzzing, went completely silent. “I… I can take them in,” she whispered, barely conscious of what she was saying. “I’ll… I’ll do it, I’ll take them in.”

“Are you sure? Do you want to discuss it first?” Sue asked, but she sounded pleased.

“I… I’ll call you back, I need to. Um.” Toni hung up the phone without even saying goodbye and sank onto the nearest stool.

“Hey, is everything okay?” Steve asked from the kitchen table.

Toni turned and stared at him, still in shock. “Greg…” She blinked slowly. “Greg got a woman pregnant in New York.”

Steve’s fork clattered to the table, and his jaw dropped to match hers. “Wh--really?”

“Twins,” she said, dazed. “Born yesterday. Their mother died in childbirth, poor thing… and her family won’t take them…”

Steve scrambled to his feet and was at her side in an instant. “You offered to take them in?”

Toni nodded mutely.

Steve huffed out a dumbfounded breath and wiped a hand over his mouth. “I--I can’t believe--”

“I’m sorry,” Toni blurted out, biting her lip. “I should have discussed it with you first, but--”

“No, no, I would have done the same thing,” Steve quickly reassured her. “Oh my God, oh, oh--” He suddenly grinned, and Toni realized she was as well. “Oh, Toni, we’re going to have kids--”

“Oh ye gods and Spirits,” Toni squealed, gripping Steve’s arms and laughing giddily. “Oh--”

“We’ve-- we’ve got to get a bedroom ready-- a nursery--” Steve was practically vibrating with elation. “Stock up on diapers, formula--”

Toni nodded, her braid whipping at her back, and let out another squeak of joy as she slid off the chair and wrapped her arms around Steve’s waist. “Oh, we’ll need clothes and furniture--”

“Do Witches do godparents? Because I’m pretty sure Arnie and Bucky will physically fight over godfather rights--”

“Witch children grow up surrounded by covens, they’ve got ten or eleven built-in godparents already--”

Steve suddenly went still and pulled back, placing his hands on Toni’s shoulders. “Toni, are you sure you want this?”

“Oh Steve, you don’t understand, I _need_  to.” Toni gulped, suddenly somber. “If I raise them, I can be sure they won’t turn out like Greg and me.”

Steve squeezed her shoulders gently and smiled at her, his eyes filled with utter adoration. “With you as a mother, they’ll be wonderful. I know it.”

Toni gasped out a startled laugh, covering her mouth with her hands. “Oh, god, I can’t do this alone…”

“You won’t raise them alone,” Steve promised, and plunged one hand into his robe pocket as he sank to one knee.

Toni stared at him, eyes wide.

“I… I was starting to plan a big thing, and it was going to be elaborate and in front of everyone we love and all, but… I just want you to know--” Steve held out an open hand, and in his palm was a small, humble gold ring.

Toni squeaked again, this time in shock. “St-Steve, is that--?”

“My mother’s engagement ring,” Steve answered, pushing it into her hand. “I… uh, I had it resized…”

Toni slowly, reverently, slipped it onto her ring finger and felt her breath leave her in one big whoosh. It fit perfectly. “Oh. Oh. Steve--”

“Toni, please,” Steve took her hands in his, gazing into her eyes with all the love she could possibly bear, and then some. “I’ve loved you for ten years. I’ve never been so sure about anything in my life. Marry me.”

Toni’s chest heaved as she searched for the words she needed, because that needed a response. “I… Oh, Steve--”

Pepper opened the door to the kitchen and stepped in, calling out, “Hey, Toni, I noticed a bit of a draft near the door to the deck, might want to get that looked at--” She suddenly caught sight of Steve down on bended knee, the ring on Toni's finger, and Toni saw the puzzle pieces click into place in her head.

Pepper shrieked, dropping her trowel on the floor, and Hera echoed it, flapping frantically over her Mistress’s head. The effect was instantaneous; Rhodey burst out of the basement with Sirius at his heels and Happy came roaring out of the garage, covered in grease and looking ready to brawl.

“ _OH MY STARS AND SPIRITS, IT’S HAPPENING!!_ ” Pepper screamed, throwing her arms around Happy and shaking him. “ _IT’S **HAPPENING**!!_ ”

Jarvis laughed, swishing his tail from his perch on the kitchen counter. “Indeed, at last.”

Rhodey finally got a look at the tableau in front of him. “Are… you proposing?” he finally asked faintly.

“Uh…” Steve blushed scarlet. “I… already… did?”

“ _Toni!_ ” Pepper snapped, making her jump. “Answer him!’

“I--” Toni looked back at Steve, and he grinned up at her, fighting laughter. “I will,” she finally said, breathlessly. “I will, I’ll marry you, Steve.” She closed her eyes as a feeling of joy, unlike anything she’d ever felt before, overflowed in her chest and filled her from head to toe. The kitchen exploded in cheers, and Steve swept her up in the most dazzling kiss they’d ever shared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it for this year's Big Bang! I hope you guys enjoyed it, because... THERE'S MORE ON THE WAY! \o/
> 
> Be on the lookout for the Laireshi-requested sequel, detailing the further adventures of Momther and Dadther Rogers-Stark. (The twins are named Arno and Antonella "Nella". :D)
> 
> Also be on the lookout for the prequel, detailing the very first Loki incident, and the time Toni accidentally turned Steve's hair blue.
> 
> Also ALSO be on the lookout for the midquel, detailing the time Toni met Sarah Rogers, which led to embarrassing baby videos.
> 
> In the meantime, the fanmix is available for your listening pleasure! Please please [check out Nim's FANTASTICAL artwork and reblog all over the Tumblrs,](http://nim-lock.tumblr.com/post/133113041819/capimbigbang2015) I'm serious, their artwork is AMAZING and I can't stop staring at it.
> 
> That's all for now, lovelies; blessed be!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [The Witching Hour (fanmix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5200883) by [LinneaKou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinneaKou/pseuds/LinneaKou)




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